Oninomura
by randomgirldadada
Summary: "I know how it feels. It feels like you're a monster, like you're a demon that no one wanted and you can't figure out why! I've had to deal with it my entire life and I'm sick of it! Why do you think I'm here in the middle of the night? This village hates me, apparently for no reason, or one that I don't know of. So don't tell me I don't know how it feels!" AT Full summary inside
1. Leaving for home

A/N: Yeah I know I probably shouldn't be starting another one of these but the idea came to me when I was reading another person's fanfiction and I couldn't help myself.

Summary- Right before his entrance into the Academy Naruto's been broken and decides to flee from his tormentors and his village. He is stopped by a young Hinata and Rock Lee and they agree to join his quest for a home. Five years later, the Shinobi of Konoha are disturbed by the emergence of a new village. Oninomura-The village of demons.

Chapter 1- Leaving for home

He was laying in his bed, hands behind his head and entangled in his unruly yellow hair. He grinned at his water-stained ceiling, crossing his legs at the ankles. His belly fluttered with giddyness and his heart was beating rapidly in his chest. 'One more day,' he thought gleefully. One more day and he would be in the Academy and he would be one more step closer to his goal.

"To be Hokage and make sure everyone recognizes me as a powerful ninja!" He yelled, jumping up from his posistion and striking a victory pose. He paused like that for a moment until he was interupted by the fierce growl of his stomach.

He laughed nervously,"Guess it's time for breakfast." Jumping down from his bed he quickly changed out of his pajamas and into his signature t-shirt and shorts before grabbing his froggy pouch, filled with money he was given every month to live off by the Hokage, and locked the door on his way out. He quickly hopped down the stairs in a playful manner, grinning as he stared down at his feet as he went. As he reached the bottom he quickly began his journey to his favorite place to eat: Ichiraku.

He stared up at the sky as he walked, if only to avoid the stares and menacing glares that followed him as he went but he didn't tell himself that. To him it was simply that this early in the morning the sky was more interesting than anyone who was up at this time.

"Hmm, what ramen should I get today? Miso? Beef? I had chicken yesterday. I'm going to need my strength for tomorrow though...I'll just get all of them!" He laughed, throwing his hands behind his head happily. Suddenly he stumbled, falling flat onto his whiskered face and skidding to a halt. Naruto groaned, rubbing his freshly bruised face. What a great way to start the day.

"What just happened?" He asked, pushing himself up onto his elbows.

"Pardon me for my clumsiness!" A loud yet young sounding voice yelled from above him. He looked up, raising an eyebrow at the sight before him. He looked only about a year older than him, with a midnight black braid running down to the middle of his back. His black bug eyes were framed by his incrediblely bushy eyebrows and were filled with a determined fire. He wore a green chinese styled long-sleeved shirt with a high collar and matching white pants completed with blue ninja sandals. His slighly rounded face was sweaty and red around his cheeks, his hands slightly cut and bruised a deep purple. Naruto blinked his blue eyes at the boy before nodding his head skepically.

"Yeah well just watch where you're going next time kid!" Naruto pointed out while hopping to his feet, ignoring the fact that he wasn't watching his own step.

"You just ran into the future Hokage of this village." He boasted, dusting imaginary dirt from his shirt.

The other boy's eyes widened in surprise before he bowed lowly, "I'm sorry future Hokage-sama! My greatest apologies!"

Naruto blinked at the other boy in surprise, unsure of whether or not this strange guy was serious or not. Everytime Naruto said he was going to become Hokage they would spit in disgust at him hurtful words or laugh in his face, no one had ever bowed to him.

Naruto glared, "Are you making fun of me, because if you are I'm going to beat you into the ground-"

"Of course not Hokage-sama, why would I make fun of another person's dream?" He asked, looking up at Naruto from his bent over posistion. Naruto was taken back, shocked by the older boy's words.

"Excuse me Hokage-sama, but I must get back to my training! I'm going to be a famous ninja some day you know!" With that the boy stood up straight and flipped on to his hands. His elbows shook as he took a shaky step forward, struggling to keep steady. Naruto watched in confusion as he turned a corner on wobbling hands. He shook himself, shrugging his shoulders at this strange encounter before continuing to his favorite stand.

0-0-0

"Hey Naruto!" The old man at the counter greeted as the young boy entered under the curtain seperating his establishment from the street.

The boy grinned as he hopped up onto his usual stool, "Hey old man! How's it hanging?" Pain flooded his head as he felt a strong fist connect with it, causing him to cry out.

"What's the big idea?!" Naruto yelled, rubbing his head in pain.

Ayame stood with her hand poised above his head, glaring at him.

"What did I tell you about your manners, Naruto?" She demanded, returning to whatever it is she did behind the counter.

'For a ten year old girl she really does pack a punch.' He thought, continuing to rub his head.

"So Naruto I heard you're entering into the Academy tomorrow." The owner said, grinning as he stirred his pot. Nauto grinned, sitting on his knees to get higher up onto the counter.

"You bet, I'm going to be the best ninja those guys have seen in their lives. They're gonna be like 'Oh Naruto you're so awesome!' And that old man will be all like,'Naruto my old man skills are nothing in comparison to yours please take my posistion as Hokage since I stink so bad!' And I will so graciously accept!" He yelled enthusiastically, nearly bouncing up and down in his chair. The old man laughed, throwing his rag onto his shoulder as he asked Naruto what ramen he wanted today.

"Give me it all old man, gotta keep my strength up for class tomorrow." He said, puffing out his chest in pride.

"I have no doubt they'll have their hands full with you Naruto." He chuckled, getting to work on the boy's order.

"Believe it!" He grinned.

0-0-0

Naruto grinned, hands behind his head as he walked away from Ichiraku. He rubbed his belly in happiness as bowl after bowl of ramen settled in his stomach. And the best part of it was his froggy pouch wasn't a penny lighter! The old man had allowed him to eat free, something about 'future Hokage's discount'. He didn't care what it was, he had gotten a free meal out of it. Of course Ayame had to ruin it by yelling at him that it was a one time thing and that he shouldn't get used to it, grinning the whole time. Must be a girl thing. He continued to walk around Konoha, deciding that there would be no training today in preparation for his first day.

He wandered around the village, glares following him everywhere he went. He ignored them, letting his mind wander to all the possibilities of his first day. Would they teach him any sweet jutsu? Would he get his own set of shurikin or kunai? He grinned at all of the paths that seemed to open for him. He would soon be recognized for who he was. 'But maybe that's already starting to happen,' he thought, thinking back to the guy from earlier. He hadn't laughed at him or glared, he might still have been making fun of him, Naruto couldn't be sure, but he seemed to be sincere. He recognized him as a person and accepted him as future Hokage, something nobody had ever done before. Yeah, maybe people were starting to see him differently.

Before he knew it he found himself at the swing across the street from the Academy, swinging slightly in the wind. He went over and sat down, pushing his feet against the ground to start pushing himself. He smiled as he stared at his future school, his heart beating quickly in his chest. He was so close, only a few hours to go.

"Look it's him." He frowned, stalling his swinging for a moment.

"Look at him, as if there isn't a trouble in the world. Little demon." He gripped the ropes tighter, anger rising in his chest.

"Ssh! You know we can't talk about that!"

"I don't see why we have to keep him in the village. He should have been killed. You know what he is!" He fought back the tears forming in his eyes, refusing to let them fall.

"I know, it isn't right. No wonder he's always alone." He had enough. He turned around, glaring at the two women standing close together behind him. They gasped, quickly walking away under his fierce glare. He huffed, quickly wiping the tears away that had yet to fallen.

"Who cares what they think," he sniffed, "I'm going to be to be Hokage some day." He said to himself, going back to swinging.

"Look who it is." A harsh voice said from behind Naruto. He turned his head slightly, taking in the sight of the three older boys behind him before turning back to the Academy building.

"What do you want?" He asked, trying to sound tough but his voice cracking in sadness instead. He cursed himself.

"Oh man, have you been crying?" The leader laughed.

"No!" Naruto yelled, quickly rubbing at his eyes.

"I just had something in my eye." He stated lamely.

"Look at the crybaby boys, no wonder he doesn't have any friends."

"Shut up." Naruto demanded.

"Everyone hates you and you don't even know why do you? You'll never be accepted so why do you even keep trying?"

"Shut up." He said again, a little louder.

"Ha! I bet your parents abandoned you, that's why they're not here. That or they commited suicide so they wouldn't have to be stuck with a kid like you. They hated you just like everyone else."

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled, leaping up from the swing and tackling the leader. He bit into the boys shoulder, swinging his small fists into the older boy's torso.

"Augh! Stop biting me you freak!" He yelled, smashing his fist into Naruto's head repeatedly.

Naruto bit down harder as pain flooded in his head, refusing to release his hold as the older boy continued his assault. 'I'm not a crybaby.'

"Get him off!" The leader demanded the others, ramming his elbow into Naruto's spine. Pain erupted from that spot as the younger boy bit down harder. 'My parents loved me.'

The other two boys grabbed his wrists, twisting his arms and causing him to yell out and release his hold. They slammed him onto the unforgiving ground, dropping their knees onto the crooks of his arms to keep them at his sides as their boss scrambled to his feet. 'They didn't leave me. They were taken.'

"You bastard." The older boy growled, pulling back his leg and kicking Naruto in his cheek. He bit down on the inside of his cheek, drawing blood. Naruto coughed, blood flying from his mouth. The leader continued his assault, fist conecting with his cheek, elbow digging into his throat and stealing his breath. 'I wil be accepted. I will be acknowledged.'

The older boy grinned menacingly at him, drawing back his fist and smashing it harshly into Naruto's nose. He screamed as it cracked, bone crushed underneath the other boy's fist. Blow after blow was delievered to the young boy, and he was unable to defend himself. 'I will be Hokage.'

His body hurt, it ached and stung all over. They laughed at him as they stood over him, backs straight and standing tall.

"He's so pathetic. Let's go." They laughed as they turned on their heels and walked away. Leaving him alone. Too weak to wipe away the tears that had begun to slip from his eyes.

0-0-0

He tore through his dresser, pulling out his drawers roughly and nearly throwing them against the wall. He tore through them, pulling out his clothes and tossing them onto his bed. He shoved them into his bag, grabbing his blanket and shoving it in after. His head pounded, swirling with pain and stinging behind his eyes. He grabbed his froggy pouch and tucking it in his pocket and swinging his bag onto his shoulder. His heart ached with every inhale and his hands stung with every slam of his dresser. He walked into his kitchen, throwing open his cabinets. Finally he was done, his food packed in after his clothes and the tops of his ramen poking out of his bag.

He walked to his front door, stopping for a moment and watching it. He looked back, staring at the now empty apartment and all the memories he had here.

"They all sucked." He said bitterly, throwing open the door and slamming it closed behind him. Not bothering to lock it.

0-0-0

It was dark by now, the village silent as his feet shuffled against the cold ground. Naruto was tired, and he should have been in bed by now but he had given up. Given up on this village that seemed to harbor only animosity and hatred to him. Everytime he took one step forward, like with that kid, he took two steps back and he didn't want to deal with it anymore. He inhaled deeply, rubbing one of the new bruises on his arm. But there were things he was going to miss about his village, like Ayame and the owner of Ichiraku. He wondered for a moment what the name of that old man was, he had never actually learned it. But they were always so nice to him, unlike the other people in this town, always so cold. He was disappointed that he wasn't going to be able to enter the Academy but he didn't need formal training to become a ninja. He just needed determination.

"W-where are you going?" Naruto jumped at the voice, turning to the source with his hands raised in defense. The girl flinched, hunching her sholders in an attempt to look smaller. Her short, dark violet hair hung in her face at an angle, covering her eyes from his veiw. Her hands were held out in front of her in a shaky form of defense, held at odd angles. Her white kimono seemed a little big for her, hanging off of her small, frail arms and she had a permament blush on her round cheeks. On her back was a bag that was very similar to his own, nestled between her shoulder blades.

"Are you following me?" Naruto asked, blinking his eyes at her but keeping his hands up, unsure of how to deal with the discovery of the girl.

"N-no I was j-just...h-heading the same w-way." She stuttered in a quiet voice, so low that Naruto had to struggle to hear her. He looked at the girl in confusion.

"You're heading out of town too?"

She froze for a moment before rapidly nodding her head.

"Why would you do that kid?" He asked, though she was probably the same age as him. Naruto waved his hand at her in impatience, "Go home, your parents are probably worried about you."

"W-what a-about your parents?" She asked, still holding up her hands as well. His heart panged at her question as he turned his head away from her slightly.

"They died." The two were quiet a moment, the street silent around them.

"I'm sorry. My mother died as well." The girl stated, her stutter gone for the moment. Naruto looked at her sadly.

"What about your Dad?"

She shook her head,"H-he doesn't c-care about me, he hates m-me."

The young boy took a step forward,"I'm sure he doesn't hate-"

"Yes he does!" She yelled, finally pulling her hands away from her face. "Y-you haven't seen t-the way he looks at me. Like I'm a d-disgrace, like h-he wishes I had never been born, like i-it's my fault. You can't k-know how that feels!" She yelled, her pure white eyes gleaming with unshed tears.

Naruto found himself with shaking shoulders and anger bubbling up in his throat, heat rising to his face.

"I know how it feels. It feels like you're a monster, like you're a demon that no one wanted and you can't figure out why! I've had to deal with it my entire life and I'm sick of it! Why do you think I'm here in the middle of the night? This village hates me and apparently for no reason, or one that I don't know of. So don't tell me I don't know how it feels!" He yelled back, wiping fiercy at the tears that fell from his round, blue eyes. He breathed heavily, his face red from his anger. The girl sniffled, wiping her tears from her own white eyes.

"I-I'm sorry." She stuttered out.

"It's okay." He said with a nonchalant shrug. They stood like that for a moment.

"I'm Naruto."

She looked at him for a moment before offering him a small smile,"I'm Hinata Hyuuga."

More silence.

"Well, since we're both leaving the village, why don't we go together?" Naruto asked the girl, though unsure as to why he would do such a thing.

She nodded, following after the blonde haired boy as he continued his walk. What was he thinking, taking her with him? He could handle ruining his own life by leaving the village(which was a possibility) but taking another person was something altogether. But she had looked so sad, just like how he imagined he had looked hundreds of times when someone had ignored him or was mean to him and he couldn't help himself. It just came out.

Soon the two were at the village gates, steps away from leaving to whoever knows where. The pair stopped, looking at each other and taking a deep breath. Was he sure about this? 'Yes.' He thought, he was never going to be bullied or picked on again. He was going to be the best ninja anyone from this village had ever seen, better than the Hokage himself.

"Ready?" He asked Hinata, turning his head slightly to peak at the violet haired girl.

She nodded her head,"Y-yes."

"We can't come back after this you know?" He asked.

"I know." She said, looking at him with determination flaring in her white irises.

He nodded, sure of her determination and turned back to the gates, taking a single step forward.

"Wait!"

The two children jumped, turning around quickly to face the new arrival.

"Hey, you're the kid from this morning!" The two boys yelled at each other, seemingly unaware of the sleeping villagers around them.

"Shhhh!" Hinata hissed at them, though it came out very timid.

"What are you doing here?!" Naruto demanded, though at a much lower volume than before.

"I could ask you the same question! Are you two leaving the village? Why would you do that? Don't you know how dangerous that is?" The bushy browed boy inquired, looking at the younger two angrily.

"Yes," Naruto deadpanned.

"Then why-" Naruto cut him off.

"We're tired of the way we've been treated here, so we're leaving no matter the dangers. We'll win their respect and then everyone will see us as what we are. Right Hinata?"

The girl nodded silently.

"What are you?" The older boy asked, slightly confused.

"Human."

He blinked his bug eyes in shock, sadness creeping onto his features as he looked down at the ground.

"I know how you feel."

"You do?" Naruto asked, slightly surprised.

"Yes, you see, my life's dream was to become a great ninja but when I entered into the Academy a year ago they told me that my chakra channels were underdeveloped and I suffer from poor chakra control that will render me unable to ever use ninjutsu and genjutsu, which are necessary for life as a shinobi but I decided that I would become a ninja despite that. I would become a master of taijutsu and then they would respect and understand me, and no longer laugh at me..." He trailed off, staring with a faraway look in his eyes. Naruto watched the boy for a moment before sighing. 'I can't believe I'm doing this, for the second time.'

"You could come with us, you know?" Naruto asked.

The other boy snapped out of his trance, looking at him in confusion.

"Leave with us I mean." He clarified. "We could become a team, kinda." He finished lamely.

"But what about the village? About our home?" He asked, looking back at the sleeping village with sad eyes.

"We'll make a new home, one where everyone is accepted for who they are. No matter what." Naruto answered with a shrug.

He looked back at the younger boy, his expression blank for a moment before a grin curled onto his lips.

"Let me pack."

A/N:The end of chapter one! So the next chapter should be up soon and hopefully the chapters for most of my other fics too, but this might come easier since some of the others ones require a lot for reference and this one is mostly from my own imagination. The next chapter is going to focus on the start of our trio's journey but hopefully a time skip will come in the next few chapters and I'll tell you guys when that comes. Don't forget to review and I look forward to the next chapter.

-Watson


	2. New Arrival

A/N:Chapter 2 is here and we'll be adding another to this party of misfits, someone that may shock all of you! Then there will be one more chapter of our heroes as kids then there will be a time skip so look forward to that.

Disclaimer(since I forgot last time)-I don't own Naruto, if I did I would have more money than a quarter that I'm pretty sure I lost.

Summary- Right before his entrance into the Academy Naruto's been broken and decides to flee from his tormentors and his village. He is stopped by a young Hinata and Rock Lee and they agree to join his quest for a home. Five years later, the Shinobi of Konoha are disturbed by the emergence of a new village. Oninomura-The village of demons.

Chapter 2- New arrival

Naruto wheezed, trying desperately to get as much air into his lungs as possible but failing horribly. His face was burning up and his eyes watering, black dots spotting the edges of his vision. He stared into the crimson red eyes of his captor, kicking his short legs toward his torso but missing by just mere inches.

"Naruto-kun!" Lee yelled, running at the younger boy and his assailant. The man holding Naruto by his throat didn't so much as blink his red eyes, drawing back his hand and delivering a crushing blow to the side of his face, catapulting the boy across the room and smacking harshly into the wall.

"Bushy brow!" Naruto choked out, increasing his kicks with renewed vigor.

"L-Lee-kun..." Hinata stuttered, her small legs shaking uncontrolably at the knees, nearly knocking together in fear. Her white eyes were widened until they nearly emcompassed her entire face, her hands and lower lip quivering in rhytm with each other.

"You should have stayed in Konoha," the man began, angling Naruto's face so that his blue eyes were gazing into the intense red.

"Now I'll show you the horrors of the real world jinchuuriki!"

Naruto opened his eyes after a moment, taking in his strange surrondings. His back was stiff against the wood supporting him, his arms stretched out across twin posts with his wrists latched on by metal cuffs and his legs dangling without resistance. The sky around him was pure red, with black, foreboding clouds hanging limply. Dark waters surrounded him, waves barely brushing the bottom of his crucifix. The man watched him from the top of his perch, gaze hollow and broken.

"For 3 days you'll live your own personal terrors."

0-0-0

Naruto stuck the tough bark with his closed fist, effectively chipping a piece from its surface. He grinned, satisfied with his small victory all the while ignorant of the events that would come to pass only a few hours later. He struck out again, fist connecting with the tree time after time. His knuckles were sore but he ignored the pain he had accumulated during these weeks of training that had come to pass. Konoha was just a distant memory now, a shadow behind his back that he refused to acknowledge.

"Naruto-kun!"

The young boy jumped at the loud voice, fist missing its target and scrapping against the bark which left a sliver of wood tucked into his skin. His eyes watered at the sting of pain before he turned to his friend.

"Hey bushy brow." He said through clenched teeth, trying to ignore the pain in his fist. He knew he had put his body through much more torture these past few weeks but...it really hurt.

Rock Lee saluted at him, his dark bangs clinging to his forehead with sweat and face red with exertion.

"Hinata-chan has asked me to inform you that lunch will be ready shortly!" The older boy yelled.

"Awesome!" Naruto exclaimed, forgeting all the pain in his hand with the prospect of food on the horizon.

"Race ya!" He yelled suddenly, quickly pushing of the ground and dashing past a stunned Lee.

"W-wait! That's cheating!" He yelled after him, quickly breaking into a sprint. Naruto just laughed, continuing his run.

It had been like this for some time now. Just him, Hinata, and Lee out in the woods, beds laid out under the stars as they continued their search for a new home. He was now glad that he decided to join with the two, it would have gotten very lonely if he was just stuck out here by himself and he really did enjoy the other two's company. Lee was a great sparring partner and with his (somewhat limited) knowledge that he had gained from his year at the academy he was able to teach Naruto some of the basics. But he was strangely strict with himself, including having to do rigorous physical punishments whenever he made a mistake or was unable to complete a certain task in the alotted time period. Even now, his hands were becoming scarred and cut deeply but he was showing improvement.

"If I don't win this race I will do 100 upside-down push-ups!" The other boy declared, hot on Naruto's trail. The blond boy rolled his eyes, another one of his challenges to push himself. Naruto's eyes widened as Lee began to catch up, now running beside him.

"Crap!" He exclaimed, digging his heels into the ground and pushing harder, his lungs beginning to burn.

"N-Naruto-kun? L-Lee-kun?" Hinata called out to them.

The blue eyed boy turned to her, not watching where he was going and inadvertantly tripping over the pot that was placed over the fire pit they had created when they settled into this spot. He flew over the disaster he had just created, flipping over himself until he landed up against a nearby tree upside down.

He blinked, looking at his two friends before grinning.

"I win."

0-0-0

Naruto wiped his face, patting his belly and leaning up against a tree.

"Ah," he sighed, "good as always Hinata."

"T-thank y-you Naruto-kun." She said, quickly ducking her head.

The boy frowned a bit and watched the young girl. He still hadn't figured her out yet, she was strange to say the least. She always blushed and stuttered whenever someone had so much as looked at her. She was also incredibly weak, unable to even last five minutes against himself or Lee. She was also incredibly determined. Whenever she was knocked down she got right back up. She was always disappearing to go do her own individual training and she was almost as strict on herself as Lee was.

"U-um, N-Naruto-kun?"

He shook himself from his thoughts and smiled at the girl.

"Yeah, Hinata?"

"U-uh, w-we, um, uh, we're o-out of food." She said, almost struggling to tell him this important fact. She was always like that when she gave him bad news, as if she was afraid he would blame her for it.

"Hmm," he scratched his head in contemplation. Well it was to be expected, they already had a limited amount of supplies from the beginning and he and Lee weren't what you would call 'light eaters'.

"Guess we'll just have to find the nearst town and buy some more!" He said logically, grabbing his froggy pouch and shaking it so the change jingled.

"Right, Gama-chan?" Naruto asked the frog affectionatly.

The other two shared a look that seemed to say, 'This is our leader?'.

"Alright you guys! Pack up! We leave for town in 15 minutes!"

0-0-0

People were staring at them. He could feel their eyes trained on his back from years of practice and scrutiny. Naruto's hands were shaking, he didn't want this, not again. His heart rate sped up, palms sweaty. His eyes shifted from the ground before him, peeking at the civilians around them. They were staring but their eyes weren't filled with hate or malice. They were filled with concern and what looked to be sadness. These looks were new to him. Naruto peeked at himself and his friends. Sure their clothes were a bit dirtier than they were when they started, but you could only get so many stains out without the use of soap. And maybe Lee looked like he had ended up on the wrong side of a tree a few times but that was only because he actually had. Naruto felt self-concious all of a sudden. He decided to get his mind off of it. He turned to his friends, holding Gama-chan out with a grin.

"So what do you guys want?"

Lee was the first to answer, waving his hand over his head with excitement.

"Ooh, ooh, pick me! I vote we purchase the wonder that is curry!" He yelled, causing many of the bystanders to cringe at the sound of his voice.

"What about you Hinata?"

The young Hyuuga jumped at the sound of her name, twidling with her fingers.

"J-just rice i-is fine." She answered, staring down at the ground.

After buying all of their food items it was already dark outside and the three children decided to stay in a cheap motel they had passed by earlier that day. Though the price was beyond reasonable it had put a considerable dent in the contents of Gama-chan's belly. Naruto sighed, he needed to figure out a way to get some more money, or at least find them a new home so they wouldn't have to keep hopping around like this. The trio walked down the hall to their room, Lee practically bouncing off the walls.

"Wow, this place is truly amazing!" He shouted, grinning as he ran down the hall. Naruto looked at the water-stained walls and chipping paint. He frowned, at the rotten meat smell and Lee's statement.

"Where did you live before this bushy brow?"

Before he got an answer to his question his back hit the wall, breath fleeing from his small lungs.

"Naruto-kun!" Lee and Hinata yelled after him.

He gasped, his body sliding up the wall until he was face to face with a pair of pitch black eyes. Matching dark hair spilled slightly into his eyes but the slightly obscured veiw didn't take away from the cold, lifeless feel eminating from them.

"Naruto Uzumaki." The older boy stated, titling his head to the side of recognition.

"You're of S-rank importance to the leaf village since your disappearnce, as well as the young Hyuuga heiress." He continued, grip tightening around Naruto's neck. The boy gasped again, clawing at his larger hand that fit entirely around his small neck.

"How d-do y-y-you know m-me?" He choked, unfamiliar with this man.

"I'm Itachi Uchiha. A leaf Shinobi, and everybody knows you Naruto." He stated simply, as if the question were silly. Naruto froze, fear creeping into his heart. They had come to take him back, they had come to take him back to the cruelty. His head pounded with realization, bile rising in his throat. He couldn't go back, not after he had lived without the stares. Not with this newfound freedom. Itachi's next statement only soldified his fears.

"I'm going to take you all back to Konoha. This does somewhat hinder my plans but it's my duty as a ninja to my village." He murmured to himself, seeming to ignore the boy for a moment. Naruto hadn't heard any of that though, his blood pounding in his ears.

"No."

Itachi broke from his trance, looking back at the boy,"Hmm?"

"I'm not going back there." Naruto whispered, letting his head fall onto his chest.

"Never again! Anywhere is better than that place!" He yelled defiantly, glaring right into Itachi's eyes.

The older boy was silent for a moment, staring right back into Naruto's eyes with a blank expression. His grip tightened around Naruto's throat, squeezing the life out of him like an anaconda. Naruto's eyes watered at the fresh pain of each inhale that assaulted his body.

"Never again?" Itachi asked, shaking his head at the boy.

"You don't know how lucky you are to have a village to go back to." He ground out, fist still tightening around Naruto, suffocating him.

"I can never go back, I can never face him again you ungrateful bastard!" He yelled, slamming the boy against the wall in anger. Naruto cried out, a flash of pain blooming across his vision.

"Naruto-kun!" Lee yelled, running at the two in an attempt to help his friend. Itachi raised his hand, delievering an unforgiving blow on the side of his face and catapulting him across the hall.

"B-bushy brow!" Naruto cried out, watching his friend crash against the far wall of the hallway.

"L-Lee-kun..."

"You should have stayed in Konoha," he growled, looking back up at him with blood red eyes.

0-0-0

Naruto's head was swimming, dizzyness flooding his thoughts. Where was he? Or that Itachi guy for that matter. What was he talking about when he called him a jinchuuriki? What was that anyway? He groggily turned his head, searching until he caught sight of the older boy standing on top of a wooden post directly across from him. 'How did I miss that?' He thought.

The Uchiha glared at him from his spot, hands twitching in what looked to be anticipation.

"You'll live through your own demons for three days, after which you'll be begging to go back to Konoha."

Naruto shook his head, determination swelling in his heart. He would not be going back there.

"Nothing can make me go back."

Itachi hardened his glare,"We'll see about that."

0-0-0

Naruto's breathing was heavy, pain stinging at every part of his body. He had been hanging like this for a day at least, his body put through punishment after punishment but he endured. He would, not only for himself but for Hinata and Lee who were waiting for him. A rugged voice chuckled, rumbling the air around him and striking fear into his heart. He stopped his panting to look at the source.

The crimson red eyes blinked at him, complete with a wide, chesire like, spiky toothed grinned. Naruto gasped, his body shaking involuntarily. He had never felt fear like this before. He felt scared for his life. What was this thing?

"I'm you." The voice spoke, continuing to grin.

"I don't believe you." Naruto said without hestitation. There was no way he had something like this inside of him.

"Belive it boy. Why else would those villagers hate a child unless they were harboring a demon in their body. Feeding me with their own chakra. You're the jailer of a monster. Of the nine-tailed fox."

Then it all clicked inside of Naruto, why he was so hated for no reason. It was all because he had this-this inside of him! Who put it there!?

"Dear old Mom and Dad." The nine-tails answered with a cruel chuckle.

"No, no, no. They wouldn't do that. Why would they do that?" Naruto demanded, not knowing what to think anymore.

The demon laughed, not answering his question as it began to fade out of existance.

"Why? Tell me why!" He screamed, right before his vision faded to black.

0-0-0

"How have you lasted this long?" Itachi inquired, watching the boy with hollow eyes. Naruto looked up at him, eyes glazing over slightly.

"They're waiting for me." He whispered with a slight pant.

"Who?"

"My friends," he answered, "as long as they're waiting for me I can't give up. They're the only people who showed me any kindness and I'll never give up on them."

Itachi watched him for a moment before replying.

"Then I'll have to kill them." He deadpanned.

Naruto's heart stopped in his chest.

"It would be easy. I've done it before. I murdered my entire clan just to see if I could. Your friends would be like mice to a lion." He continued nonchalantly, watching the young jinchuuriki's reaction.

"How could you do that?" Naruto whispered, shaking his head. Fire filled his veins as he thought more about it. He had a family, people who loved him and took care of him and he killed them. Then spoke of it as if it were nothing. Anger surged in in his mind clouding his thoughts as his head began to pound.

"How could you do that to them?! They loved you and you murdered them! I'm not a demon, you're the demon! People like you are scum and I can never forgive you for doing something like that!" He screeched, baring his newfound fangs at the Uchiha. Itachi looked taken back for a moment before hardening his expression but before he did that Naruto saw a hint of something. Sadness?

"I'll rip you to pieces!" He screamed, ripping his arm free of its metal brace, shattering wood in various directions.

"Y-you shouldn't be able to do that." Itachi stuttered, struggling to keep his calm facade. Naruto ignored him, power surging through his body with overwheming strength.

"You'll never hurt me or my friends!" He tore his arm out of his other restraint, now freely falling from his crucifix. He fell onto the water, standing on its dark surface as red flames burst into being around him.

"You'll never take me back!"

0-0-0

Naruto screamed, eyes opening as his head snapped forward and head butting Itachi in his forehead. The older ninja released him in surprise, falling onto his back. Naruto fell to the ground, clutching his bruised throat and panting heavily.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled, running to his side and helping him up.

"How long was I gone?" He asked, noticing the hoarsness of his own voice. She looked at him in confusion, her white eyes filled with confusion.

"H-how long? Y-you never left, you two w-were just staring at each other for a few seconds until you hit him." She answered, still somewhat confused.

"He must have had you in a genjutsu."

"Bushy brow!" Naruto called, quickly running over to his friend as he attempted to pick himself up.

"It's a form of jutsu that allows you to manipulate your opponent's mind." He continued to explain as Naruto and Hinata helped him to his feet.

"Are you alright Lee-kun?" Hinata asked, concerned with her friend's well-being.

"Do not worry Hinata-chan! It will take more than that to hurt me!" Lee assured the girl with a grin and a thumbs up.

"He beat my sharingan..." Itachi said to himself, trying to convince himself that the impossible had not just transpired.

"Why did you do it?" Naruto asked him, standing over the older boy who he now had the chance to get a better look at. He was skinny, the muscles in his arms and legs well developed but still lean. His cheeks were slightly sucken in, giving him the appearence of not eating in a long while. He was dressed in standard ANBU gear, complete with the vest and ninja sandals but without the mask.

"I already told you why." He huffed, turning his face away from the blond boy.

"Tell me the real reason." Naruto demanded, kneeling down beside him.

"I did-"

"No you didn't. If you had you wouldn't have looked so sad, lost, or broken. It's okay, I know how it feels." Naruto said with a well meaning smile. The older boy watched him for a moment before sighing.

"I was ordered to. The Uchiha clan was planning a coup against the village and I was told to stop it. I didn't want to kill them but it was for the good of the village. That's one of the things my clan had trouble realizing. The good of the village outwieghs that of a single clan. But I was able to allow my little brother to live, though he hates me now and will someday kill me for his revenge." Itachi explained sadly, resting his arm over his eyes.

"Is that the 'he' you were talking about?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, I always loved him. Ever since he was a baby. It broke my heart to do that to him." He sighed, tears falling down the sides of his gaunt face.

"So you've got no place to go then?"

Itachi laughed,"I guess not."

"Come with us then."

Itachi lifted his arm, staring at the young boy in confusion.

"What?"

"Come with us." He laughed, settling back on his hands.

"But I just tried to kill you."

"But you didn't," he stated with a grin, "and that's all that matters."

"I don't understand-"

"I'm forgiving you." He said, grinning at the Uchiha.

"That's why I couldn't stay in the village any longer. They all lived in the past and blamed me for the loss of their loved ones. If they had only be able to forgive maybe things would have been better for all of us. So I'm forgiving you. Okay?" Naruto explained, holding out one of his hands to the other boy.

Itachi looked at the boy's hand before looking back into his blue eyes. He smiled lightly, grabbing onto the Naruto's hand.

"Okay."

A/N:Yay! The arrival of a new friend! How many of you saw through me and realized it was Itachi at the beginning? A lot huh? Yeah I knew it. This would've been up yesterday but I was really tired and went to sleep instead of finishing but at least its up now! One more chapter after this and the time skip will be coming you guys. These are just getting the characters set up so yeah. And I know Lee and Hinata don't have much character development yet but they will soon I promise. Also thank you for all the faves, follows and reviews you guys! They always make me happy to know that people are actually reading and liking my stuff so keep it up! The next chapter should hopefully be up tomorrow. Bye!

-Watson


	3. Second Chances

A/N: Yay! After this chapter is the time skip you guys! I think I'm the most excited about this, mostly bacause it's going to be really fun to write. There's going to be some of that Hinata and Lee character development here and the chapter's mostly going to focus on them. Also this chapter has a time skip itself, nothing major just a year has passed which is nothing compared to the one coming up in chapter 4 so here are the ages of our characters now and I hope you guys enjoy the chapter:

Naruto and Hinata-8

Rock Lee-9

Itachi-14

Disclaimer-If I owned Naruto I would have better things to do than writing fanfiction at 4:17 at night...or morning? Whatever.

Summary- Right before his entrance into the Academy Naruto's been broken and decides to flee from his tormentors and his village. He is stopped by a young Hinata and Rock Lee and they agree to join his quest for a home. Five years later, the Shinobi of Konoha are disturbed by the emergence of a new village. Oninomura-The village of demons.

Chapter 3- Second Chances

The air was cold, mist hanging lowly around their feet as they shuffled forward in a frost bitten haze. The cold didn't bother him much, he had conditioned his body for years to be able to resist the harsh elements but it wasn't himself he was worried about(not that he would ever admit it to himself). He turned his head slightly, watching the boy following silently behind him.

His expression was blank while his skin was tinted with dark pink hues around his cheeks. He was trying to hide his reactions to the weather but he was not blind. He saw the slight shudder in the boy's narrow shoulders and the hitching in his short breaths. He cursed himself, what did he care if the kid was cold or not? It was of no concern of his if he froze to death here in this alleyway but it would mean the loss of a useful resource. Yes, for that reason alone he had to make sure the boy lived, if only to help along his own plans for the future. He continued walking down the alley until he came to a turn, his hand hiting the boy's chest and stopping him in his tracks. He looked up at the man, confusion in his young eyes but he ignored the look. Instead he focused on the sight in front of him, a malicious smile curling onto his lips under his bandages. He watched as the young blond boy laughed with his two friends, a young, clear eyed girl, and another, bug eyed boy.

"Isn't this an interesting development?" He rumbled in his deep voice, anticipation rising in his chest. What are the odds he would run into the nine-tails jinchuuriki just when he was low on cash? He could sense the nine-tails spirit in the boy, the malicious intent leaking from every pore in his body and he probably had no clue. Yes, very interesting indeed.

"Haku?" The boy looked up at him expectantly as he turned his gaze down onto him.

"I've got a plan."

0-0-0

Lee hit the ground with a hard smack, quickly hopping back to his feet and swinging his leg out to trip up his opponent. Naruto dodged his sweep, flipping onto his hands and throwing a kick towards Lee's torso. His hand snapped forward in a flash, hand clenching around the younger boy's ankle and muscles straining as he began to lift him.

"Eep!" Naruto sqeaked as he was pulled into a whirlwind, spinning rapidly around and around. Lee released the boy mid-spin, watching for a moment as he flew across the room before sprinting into action. Naruto attempted to flip himself over in an attempt to land correctly when he was met with a hard fist to the jaw. He tumbled out of the air, back slapping against the unforgiving ground. Naruto blinked, holding his hand to his mouth in surprise. 'We have really had grown during their year of training with Itachi-san,' Lee thought during his victory dance. The small family was in their first rotation of training, which included Itachi when he wasn't at work for the day. Itachi had taught him a lot during this time, including the Uchiha and Hyuuga family fighting styles, as well as many others, that he observed with the use of his sharingan. Hinata was also able to point out his issues with the Hyuuga style and point out his suble flaws with her byakugan, he had even taken to wearing weight on his legs and wrists to build up his speed and strength. But the training was also grueling on his young body. His muscles were constantly tearing and rebuilding themselves but he rarely gave them a break. His arms and hands were already badly scarred, forcing him to wrap bandages around them to cover up the cuts and bruises.

"I win!" Lee cheered, jumping happily up and down at his victory. Naruto smiled at his friend, finding himself unable to be upset with his enthusiasm.

"You may have got me this time bushy brow but tomorrow you're mine." Naruto declared, holding out his hand for his friend to help him up.

Lee stopped his victory celebration for the moment to grin at his friend and help him to his feet.

"I look forward to our next match Naruto-kun! It will be of epic porportions as always!" Lee yelled, shaking his friend's hand.

"I see you two have finished your spar." Itachi pointed out aloud, walking into the room with Hinata close on his tail. Hinata had also grow during this year and not only in physical appearence. Her stutter was almost non-existant, only coming out when she was extremely nervous. Her strength had more than doubled in her time with the group of boys. She was a quick learner, almost never making the same mistake twice and she kept them all well fed. An added bonus.

"Yes, Naruto and I had a most grand training match as always!" Lee yelled, grinning at his two friends while absentmindely placing his hands behind his head in a very Naruto like gesture.

"That's good to hear," the Uchiha said with a reassuring smile, patting the two boys' heads.

"Yeah, whatever." Naruto said with a small pout, the realization of his loss finally sinking in.

"Oh Naruto don't be such a spoil sport, there have been plenty of times when you have beat Lee yourself." Itachi rationalized, somewhat repremanding the young jinchuuriki. Naruto smirked to himself.

"Yeah, there have." Naruto agreed with an air of overconfidence.

"There's the cocky and arrogant Naruto we all know and tolerate." Itachi chuckled, moving to the front door of their small house and wrapping his dark scarf around his neck.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?"

"Well, I'm off to work. You three stay out of trouble." Itachi bid his farewell, waving at the trio as he effectively fled the house.

"Don't ignore me like that! Itachi-nii?!" Naruto demanded, quickly following the older boy out the door without so much as throwing on a sweater. Lee shook his head, chuckling at his friend's antics.

"Naruto is always so full of energy huh Hinata?" Lee laughed, turning to the shy girl. She stiffened under his gaze before quickly bobbing her head up and down excitedly. Lee raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"If you'll excuse me Lee-kun I'm going to do some training a-alone." She spoke quickly, slightly stuttering at the end of her sentence.

"Are you sure Hinata? It's really cold out there." He called after her as she zipped past him, throwing on her winter clothes. Though he knew the training wasn't anything she couldn't handle, coupled with this cold there was a very high possibility she could get sick.

"I'll be fine." She answered, throwing open the front door and fleeing through it without so much as a goodbye.

She was being strange these past few days, always leaving for her secret training periods. He asked to go with her once but she had quickly dismissed his request, saying she was honing her own personal skills. Lee stood by himself in the empty house, a feeling of lonliness settling in the pit of his stomach. He hated being confined like this, be it to this house or to this middle of nowhere village. They settled here for the winter, it being too cold for their normal campout routine or so Itachi said. So they managed to find this house that was usually rented out for the summer and Itachi found a job at the local market that gave them a steady income of food and money but Lee felt like he was suffocating. Spring wasn't coming fast enough for him and he longed for the feel of the open road under his feet and the new training opportunities and places that came with a constant change of scenary. He sighed, running his bandaged hands lightly through his dark hair. Well if the others weren't here there was no reason that he should remain in the house alone. He would go look for a new training ground. Yeah, that seemed like a good plan. Satisfied with his decision Lee got dressed in his muliple layers of winter clothes before leaving through the front door and locking it behind him.

0-0-0

Hinata activated her byakugan, using her 360 degree vision to make sure she wasn't being followed. When she was sure that she was in no danger of being found out she quickened her pace, shaprly turning a corner. She breathed heavily, her pants coming out with small tuft of mist puffing out around her round cheeks. She didn't know how she was keeping up with this routine, she felt guilty for lying to her friends like this but it was a neccesary evil.

She came upon a small shack like building with snow pressed up compactly against its walls. It was small and run down with cracks and crevices exposed to the harsh elements of winter but she couldn't help the smile that came to her lips as she approached its weather beaten door. She knocked lightly on its surface, being extra careful just in case the shed's only occupant was asleep.

"Come in," a small hestiant voice answered from inside the shed.

Carefully, Hinata pushed the mass of snow pressed against the door before opening it and peeking her head through.

"Haku-chan?" She called, looking inside the shack's ragged surface. She was met with a pair of warm, brown eyes gazing at her contently. The other girl blew a strand of raven black hair out of her sickly pale face, smiling a tight lipped smile at the young girl.

"Hello Hinata-chan. It's nice to see you again."

0-0-0

Finding a training ground was harder than he thought it was going to be. Most places he checked were either slicked down with ice (which he normally wouldn't mind since it was just another challenge to overcome but one could only take falling on their butt so many times) or in use by someone else and Lee had respect for the ancient code of dibs.

He sighed, placing his hands behind his head as his feet shuffled against the ground. He just didn't know what to do with himself in situations like this. He could always just go back to the house and train but it would feel hollow and empty without anyone there with him. Of course Naruto might be back by this time, now that he thought about it. He had left the house sort of abruptly and without any sort of real coverage against the weather. Yeah, maybe he could catch him before he decided to go off on some adventure without him.

Lee nodded his head in satisfaction before heading in the direction of his home. On his way he passed by a large forest, covered in a blanket of pure white snow. He took a moment to admire the marvel of nature before moving back onto his quest but he was interupted by a sudden noise. A snap of a twig it seemed like. On impulse Lee drew the kunai he kept hidden up his sleeve, observing his surrondings with a keen eye and open ears. Another snap, followed closely by a string of curses. Lee whirled around, his kunai flying from his hand and embedding itself in the bark beside the man's head. Lee drew another kunai, holding it in ready position.

"That was a warning shot." He said menacingly, glaring at his pursuer until he realized the condition he was in. The dark haired man clutched his side in pain, blood flowing freely through the gaps left by his fingers. His bare chest heaved up and down heavily, his body rested up against the tree with Lee's kunai lodged in it. The lower half of his face was covered in blood stained bandages, matching the blood splatters on his striped wrist and leg warmers. The man chuckled, his frame wobbling as he took a step forward while he dragged a rather large sword behind him.

"I'd like to see you try kid..." He began before his dark eyes rolled back into his head and he pitched forward, nearly falling to the ground if Lee had not been there to catch him. The boy's knees buckled for a moment before he distributed the man's weigh across his shoulders in an attempt to balance him.

"You are really heavy," Lee grunted to himself, heaving the man slightly onto his back. What should he do? He obviously couldn't take him back to his house. He could imagine it now, 'Oh, hello Itachi-san! Who's this you say? Just some ninja I found in the woods on my way home bleeding to death. Can I keep him?'. Or at least Lee was pretty sure he was a ninja. He did have a shinobi forehead protector strapped across his head and that would explain his extensive injuries. Lee sighed, what was he going to do? He looked at the gaint sword almost slipping from the mysterious ninja's grasp. 'This day just gets better and better doesn't it?' He thought, attempting to grab the shinobi's sword. Well, he was looking for a challenge.

0-0-0

"Are you sure you don't need anything Haku-chan?"

The other girl laughed slightly, her voice the equivalent of chiming bells, "Don't worry about me so much Hinata-chan. You've been taking excellent care of me." She assured the girl while wrapping the blanket Hinata had brought her tighter around her body. Hinat blushed slightly at the praise from the other girl, smiling back at her.

These past few weeks had been great. When Hinata found Haku she was on the verge of freezing to death, her hands and feet a nasty shade of purple that Hinata hoped that she would never have to see on another person again. She quickly brought her to this abandoned shed and began the process of healing her injuries. During that time Hinata discovered that she was a fairly decent medical nin, seeing as it was mainly focused on chakra control which was a basic technique taught to all Hyuugas. When Haku was once again concious the two had become quick friends and Hinata felt good about having a girl to talk to. Though she did love the family she found with the boys, she still missed the kind of conversations between two girls. Like the ones she used to have with her mother. Suddenly her heart felt heavier with the thought of her mother, a frown finding its place on the young Hyuuga's lips.

"-ata-chan? Hinata-chan?"

"Hmm?" She asked, quickly pulling herself from her self-induced trance.

"Are you alright? You looked lost in thought for a moment." Haku explained, looking at the girl with concern. Hinata ducked her head from the other girl's gaze, allowing her violet hair to fall into her eyes.

"I-it's nothing. I was just...thinking of my mother..." She answered, allowing her voice to trail off while she stared at the cracked ground under their feet.

"Tell me about her." Hake demanded with a encouraging tone, attempting to get the other girl to look back at her. Hinata looked up at the girl in shock, no one ever asked her to talk about her mother. Of course all of the members of her new found family had problems of their own but it still felt good to talk about things like this. If only to honor her mother's memory by sharing her with others.

"She was one of the most amazing people I have ever seen in my life. She was always so flawless and beautiful. But most of all she was kind, she wouldn't hurt a fly if she could help it. And I always knew she loved me, from every time she'd smile at me or giggle at something I'd said. I could talk to her about anything, and she would never judge me or laugh at one of my silly ideas. My favorite moments, though, were when we didn't speak. I would rest my head in her lap and she would softly stroke my hair until I fell asleep right there. But, my memories of her are slowly fading from my mind. It's getting harder and harder to remember what she looks like and I don't know how to make it stop. I just want her back, if only just to hold her one more and see her face." Hinata explained, wiping away the tears that began to stream down her pale cheeks. It had been a long time since she talked about her mother and just talking about seemed to help refresh her memory in Hinata's mind.

Haku watched her friend for a moment before reaching out and giving her hand a light squeeze, causing the younger girl to laugh through her tears.

"I know how you feel." She began, looking her friend in the eyes.

"You do?" Hinata asled sadly, noy waiting her friend to have gone through a similar situation.

Haku nodded, "I lost my mother at a young as well, by the hands of my own father."

Hinata gasped, fresh tears forming in her eyes for the misfortune of her friend. "Why would he do that? Didn't he love her?"

"Yes, he loved her very much actually, but unfortunantly he was unable to see past the prejudices of our village and it made him blind to even his love for my mother. But I don't dwell on the sad times that have come to pass." She stated, a light smile toughing her lips.

"Instead I focus on the happy memories that I shared with my mother and remember that she will always be in my heart if I I ever miss her." She finished, placing a hand over her heart and giving Hinata another reassuring squeeze. Hinata let her hair fall into her face, a soft smile toughing her lips.

"Thank you." She whispered.

0-0-0

Zabuza awoke with a pounding in his head and an intense pain in the side of his abdomen. He groaned, clutching his side with one hand and his raging headache with the other. He blinked, attempting to blink away the disorientation from his swimming mind. Where was he? He looked around and observed his surrondings, taking in the high ceiling far above him and the fact he was laying on top of a large pile of hay. He inhaled deeply, taking in the sharp tang of animal stetch with a grimace. Okay, so he was in a barn. The ex-mist ninja turned his head, locking eyes with a rather ferocious looking chicken. Yeah, definately a barn. Next question, how did he get here? He racked his brain but the only thing he remembered was a group of rather pathetic bounty hunters dicovered him at his look out spot and decided to take him down for the reward. He made a simple task of their murders but not before one of the idiots managed a well placed cut to his side. Well he was dead now so it was of no importance anymore.

"But that doesn't explain how I go here." He thought aloud to himself, not really expecting anyone to answer him.

"I brought you here." Zabuza reached for his kunai, only to find his weapons bag missing from his spot on his leg. His next instint was to grab for the sword at his back, only to find that missing as well.

"I hope you don't mind that I took your weapons shinobi-sama but I didn't want you to hurt yourself in your sleep." The boy said, holding out his weapons bag out to him along side a steaming bowl of what seemed to be curry. The ninja watched the boy warily, unsure of what to make of this situation. What was the kid's angle? There was probably poison in the curry right? Or his weapons bag was filled with snakes? Who was he in the first place?

"I am Rock Lee shinobi-sama!" The kid yelled, his voice grating on Zabuza's ears.

"Stop yelling." The man growled, clutching the side of his head as fresh pain began circulating in his thoughts thanks to this kid's loud voice. He should just kill him and be done with it? As a matter of fact why hadn't he done that yet?

"Well, that wouldn't be very nice considering I saved your life." The kid, Lee or something, said with a pout. He really needed to stop thinking outloud.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Zabuza asked, snatching his weapons bag from the boy's outstreched hand and strapping it back onto his thigh before shakily getting to his feet.

"Wait shinobi-sama! You're wounds aren't fully healed yet!" The kid called after him, attempting to get him to lay back on the makeshift bed.

"Back off kid, I've got stuff to do." Zabuza stated, pushibg the boy away from him and slinging his sword onto his back. He knees buckled for a moment at the added pressure added to his torn abdomenal muscles but he ignored the slight swell of pain. He needed to get back to his look-out spot and wait for Haku to report on his progress on the mission.

"But your wounds will reopen and it will take even longer to heal!" The kid continued calling after him. Zabuza's head spun again, causing him to take a mis-step and stumble. This kid was really starting to grate on his nerves, maybe he should kill him and get it over with. Otherwise he would draw unneeded attention to himself and Haku.

"You're not going to get anything done in that condition!" The boy called again, sounding closer this time. Was he following him? Though he was right. The rogue ninja could barely walk correctly, let alone fight in this condition if the need arose. Besides Haku knew not to continue the plan without him, he would just go into standard precedure until he came to confirm the next part of the plan. With all of that in mind he could afford to take a day to heal his wounds. He pulled his sword off his back and laid it against the wall with a deep thud. He turned on his heel and limped back to the bed made of hay, sitting down hard on it so hay flew into the air.

"Give me the curry kid." He demanded, holding out his hand expectantly. He must really be getting soft. The boy grinned, holding out the bowl and spoon to the jounin. Zabuza hestiated.

"Taste it." The boy gave him a confused before shrugging and taking a spoonful of curry into his mouth. After he was assured the boy was not poisoned(unfortunently) he took the bowl and took a bite himself. His eyes widened as the flavor assaulted his mouth.

"What the heck is this!?"

0-0-0

Lee hummed happily to himself, juggling to keep the firewood he collected for Zabuza-san's fire in his arms. The past few weeks were some of the happiest in Lee's short life, much like when he had met hsi friends. He didn't feel so lonely anymore, not with his friends and the addition of Zabuza in his life. The older man was always kind of confrontational and had a sick sense of humor(Including a joke about dead puppies. Seriously) but he was always there waiting for him, even when he said he wouldn't be and that was something Lee was thankful for. He may have felt confined and suffocated when stuck in a single place for too long but he felt that people should be consistant and unwavering. Yeah it was a boy contadictory but that was how he saw it. He kicked open the door of the barn, firewood wobbling in his hand but he managed to keep it steady.

"Zabuza-san! I brought more firewood in case you got cold!" Lee called, walking through the barn, somewhat blindly since his stack of wood came above his eyes.

"Zabuza-san?" He yelled again, walking into the area where the shinobi would usually be leafing through a book Lee didn't know he had or cleaning his humongus sword. Seriously, why would anyone need a sword that big? Unless...Zabuza was using it to increase his strength even while in battle? The man was a genius! With his newfound admiration for the ninja Lee dropped his wood in the middle of the room, grinning.

"Zabuza-san you must teach me your training techniques!" He declared, looking over at the bed where the mist nin would be sitting,ready to yell at Lee for being too loud again. Lee blinked in confusion at the empty bed, the hay left undisurbed. Lee looked around the small room, finally noticing the lack of huge sword leaned up against the barn wall or the lack of wrist warmers thrown along the barn floor. Lee attempted to hold back the tears that were forming in his eyes but he was having trouble. He tried to rationalize it in his mind. He knew he wasn't going to stay forever, Zabuza had said so much himself. He was a ninja and they had better things to do than hang around with kids like him. He just didn't want to be left alone anymore.

0-0-0

Haku stood beside his partner as they both watched the house across from their posistion. His heart was heavy as he watched the young girl laughing along with her family, his shared memories of her replaying over and over again in his head. She told him everything about herself, given him all of her trust and now he was using that foolishly given trust against her. He felt a tear slip out of his eye and quickly placed his mask onto his face to cover his sadness from Zabuza. He was simply a tool, something to be used until he fufilled his purpose then discarded. Tools did not have feelings. Tools did not feel sadness.

"Haku?" Zabuza asked, continuing his observation of the house.

"Yes Zabuza-san?"

"Are you ready?"

Haku's hands quickly flickered to his sides to touch the unforgiving metal of his senbon needles.

"Yes Zabuza-san."

'Please forgive me, Hinata-chan.'

0-0-0

His friends were acting weird, this was something Naruto knew well since he lived with them for over a year now. Bushy brow was depressed to say the least. He looked like someone killed his puppy(of course he didn't have a puppy but that's not the point) and sure he pretended he was alright by laughing whenever anyone said anything funny and being his normal energetic self but Naruto saw past that. His smile never reached his eyes and whenver he thought no one was looking he would let a sad frown creep on his lips.

Hinata was no exception the weirdness. Whenever she got the chance she was out the door, running off to whoever knows where. He knew she wasn't training though. He followed her one day and watched as she walked into a broken down shed and stayed there for a couple of hours. He left her be for the time being because he knew she could take care of herself but he was getting worried for his friends. He knew Hinata well and this guilt of keeping this secret from them was probably eating her from the inside out and Lee...just look at him for God's sake! He decided that he was going to talk to them after dinner, when he was sure Itachi-nii was out of ear shot. He wanted them to speak to him but it was their decision if they wanted Itachi to know.

After he was finished with his dinner he took hsi plate to the sink and went inpursuit of his friends who were already sitting the livingroom together. When he walked up to them Lee was telling Hinata about some joke he learned from a friend when Naruto interupted them.

"Hey guys," he said, standing behind them with a faint smile. The two children turned to him and smiled back. Maybe they were alright, maybe he was just imagining things. But he wasn't. He could tell from the sadness behind Lee's eyes and the way Hinata refused to meet his gaze.

"Hi Naruto-kun." Hinata greeted in her usual low voice.

"Naruto! You're just in time to hear this joke I was telling Hinata-"

"Actually Lee, I wanted to ask you guys something." He interupted, taking note of the confused look the two shared before looking back at him. But he never got the chance to ask his question as a faint mist began to form around their ankles.

"What is this?" Naruto questioned, looking at his friends in confusion.

"It looks like fog." Lee stated as the mist began creeping farther up their bodies until it came to their waists.

"Hinata use your byakugan so we can have someone who can see through this stuff." Naruto ordered, just as the mist enveloped his entire body and making it impossible for him to see his hand in front of his face. The Hyuuga nodded, even though no one could see it, and activated her Kekkei Genkai. Suddenly her vision was assualted with a flash of light, forcing her her to cry out in pain and close her eyes.

"Hinata!" The two boys called out concerned for their friend.

"I'm okay," she assured them, "this is any normal mist. It must be a jutsu because when I use my Byakugan it's a shock to my senses with all the chackra floating around in it. Sorry but my eyes aren't useful here." She explained, feeling slightly disappointed with herself.

"It's okay Hinata. We don't want you hurting yourself. We'll some other way out of here." Naruto said, reaching out blindly in an attempt to get somewhere.

"What about Itachi-san?" Lee asked suddenly, as if just remembering the older boy.

"I'm right here." The Uchiha answered, not three free away from the trio.

"Hinata's right. This isn't normal mist, if my memory serves me correctlythere's one ninja in particular that likes to do his killing with the aid of mist." Itachi explained, his body stiff as he awaited the arrival of their attacker. He lost one family already, he wasn't losing another one. A deep chcukle echoed through the mist, seemingly coming from every direction yet not of them at the same time.

"Itachi Uchiha, well aren't you a hinderance to my plans?" The disembodied voice laughed.

"Zabuza Momochi, you're in my bingo book." Itachi stated plainly, looking around the mist with his sharingan. Lee froze as soon as his name left Itachi's mouth. Zabuza?

"Isn't that flattering? In a few seconds your blood is going to be on my hands!" The voice roared. The three children braced for anything to happen and were surprised when the sound of metal clanging against metal found its way to their ears.

"Tsk, those sharingan are going to be a problem for me aren't they?" Zabuza asked, his sword drawn and struggling to disarm Itachi. The younger boy just glared, digging into his weapons pouch and throwing two shurikin at the ex-mist nin with expert precision. Zabuza jumped back, quickly dodging the shuriken and scowling at the younger man.

"Haku, take care of the objective!" Zabuza yelled over his shoulder, his dark eyes still focused on the Uchiha before him.

"H-Haku-chan?" Hinata whispered, looking at the ground before her. No, it couldn't be her. Could it?

"Hinata, you know these guys?" Naruto asked, trying to walk towards her but managing to only trip over his own feet.

"W-what? N-n-no I-Haku-chan is-is..." The young girl trailed off, unsure of how she could say this.

"Hinata tell me! No more secrets!" Naruto yelled, trying to get his friend to tell him the truth.

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan." Haku said, watching his friend from inside the surface of his mirror, face hidden behind his mask. The two friends looked at the mirror in a mix of shock(Hinata) and anger(Naruto).

"Haku-chan?" The girl asked again, moving towards the mirror with her arm outstreched to touch it.

"Hinata don't!" Naruto yelled. The girl flinched, subconciously dropping her hand and looking towards the boy with sad eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" She whispered, tears filling her eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening. Her heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces that could never be put back together again. She had confided in her, told her about her mother, the precious memories of her mother.

"Was this all just a joke to you?! Am I a joke to you?! Was it all a lie!?" Hinata yelled, her tears now freely falling down her cheeks. She didn't know what she was supposed to feel. Betrayed? Angry? Sad? She had so many conflicting emotions battling for dominance in her mind she didn't know what to do. She had never been so confused.

"No, none of it was a lie. Everything I told you was true. You're not a joke and neither is what you're feeling. I'm truly sorry it had to turn out this way and maybe if we had been differnt people we could have been friends. But I have a job to fufil and that is to obtain the jinchuuriki." Haku said, looking at the girl with sad eyes, his senbon trained on her.

"J-jinchuuriki?" Hinata asked.

"What did you do to Hinata?!" Naruto demanded, glaring up at the boy in the mirror with furious crimson eyes.

0-0-0

Itachi dodged another blow from Zabuza's massive sword, barely able to keep up with the man's heavy hits. Zabuza was keeping him on his toes and sticking close to him, making it impossible for him to perform any jutsu. On the plus side this also made it impossible for Zabuza to perform any of his own jutsu. If only he could get that sword away from him. Zabuza laughed at him, continuing to add pressure on Itachi blow after blow. A flash of green cut across Itachi's light of sight, so fast that his sharingan could barely catch it. Was that...?

Zabuza's head snapped to the side, slight pain filling his jaw. What the...? He didn't get a chance to think about it when another blow landed against his chin, knocking his head back. He stumbled a few steps back just from the shock of it, his eyes wide. What the heck was happening? Another hit struck his chest, this one twice as strong as the two causing him to lose another step. Itachi wasn't sure what to do about this situation. The boy was obviously doing better than him but when his element of surprise wore off he could be in serious trouble.

Zabuza was getting angry just as his legs were swept out from under him, a strong kick to the chest catapulting him into the hard ground below. His back slammed against the flow, pain flowing freely now. He growled, how was he supposed to fight something he couldn't see?!

"I thought you were my friend." A disembodied voice spoke from behind him. He turned his head, trying to catch the source of the voice but was greeted by nothing but mist. That voice...why was it so familiar. Another strike to his face, snapping his head to the side.

"But you're just scum." Kick to the abdomen.

"You tried to hurt my family." Fist to his nose, knocking his head against the ground.

"And now you have to pay!" Zabuza choked as two fists rammed themselves into his windpipe with enough force to take his breath away but not enough to kill him.

"I'm getting realy tired of this." Zabuza rasped, clutching his throat. Where had he heard that voice before?!

"Me too." The voice said just as he thought it would. Zabuza struck out, hand curling around the throat of his attacker. Zabuza grinned evilly, squeezing his assailant's neck even tighter.

"Now I've got you, you little..." He tappered off as he took a closer look at what he caught.

"Lee?"

0-0-0

Hinata watched Naruto in amazement as red flames encircled his small body, his whisker marks thicker than they had ever been before. Her heart skipped a beat as she continued to watch him, something causing her hands to shake uncontrolably. What was this feeling?

"Answer me! Why would you hurt her?!" He demanded, running towards Haku who was still encased in his mirror. Quick as a flash he through one of his senbon needles aiming for Naruto heart. Naruto turned his body, barely dodging the needle but running for ward none the less. Suddenly the entire room was filled with identical mirrors, all of them with their own individual Haku. Naruto paused his sprint for a moment taking in his new environment.

"It's no use. Once you're caught within my jutsu there is no way out. Please give yourself up Naruto Uzumaki so this can be settled without bloodshed." Haku plead, masked face still emotionless. Naruto growled, turning to glare at all the Hakus in turn.

"If there's no way out I'll just have to break the mirrors!" He roared, launching himself at the nearest mirror.

0-0-0

Lee glared at the man holding him up by his neck, small hands grasped around his larger one to get more air into hsi lungs. Upon this realization Zabuza felt his felt his grip loosen for a moment before he shook himself and steeled his grip. This kid was of no importance to him. He was getting weak, soft. It was all Haku's fault, he started all of this. He needed to prove he was still worthy to be the demon of the mist.

"What do you think you're doing kid?" Zabuza growled, tightening his grip around Lee's throat. The boy gasped and Zabuza willed himself to keep his hold no matter what. Lee just stared at him, the same expression on his young face.

"Answer me!" Zabuza nearly roared into the boy's face, anger burning in his chest. The boy gasped again, his body shaking uncontrolably. Was this really that kis that had sneak attacked him only moments before? Wait, sneak attack. He wasn't gasping when Zabuza was choking him, he was laughing. He wasn't shaking out of fear but surpressed laughter! Just as Zabuza realized what was happening dozens of well placed and painful jabs danced themselves across his back and he felt his moments lock up. With his last ounce of muscle control he released Lee as he pitched froward, crashing hard against the ground. He forgot about the Uchiha.

As he felt the use of his chakra flee from his grasp he watched as his mist jutsu began to creep back from where it came until the house was completely free of its influence. Across the room he saw his target, the jinchuuriki, leaning up against a young and he looked completely worn out. Not far behind the two was Haku, laying face flat out on the ground, not moving. Zabuza felt his body stiffen as he waiting for the boy to make any sort of movement.

"Is he alive?" He whispered, still watching the boy for any sort of movement.

"Yeah, he's alive." Naruto answered with a short pant, looking at the now helpless man.

"You really care about him don't you?" Hinata asked.

Zabuza glared at the girl fiercly."Tsk, of course not. Haku is just a tool for me to use until I'm done with-" he was cut off by a swift yet hard kick straight to his face.

"What the f-"

"Stop lying!" Lee demanded, glaring down at the man who lay helpless on the ground.

Zabuza glared at him, "You don't know what you're talkin-"

"Stop lying!" Lee screamed again, kicking him this time in the abdomen.

"Lee, calm down." Itachi said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"No! Don't you get it? You're all he has left! I heard him when he was talking about you. All he does, he does so he can help you acheive your goals and to help you excell. You don't get to deny him! The least you can do is accept that you care whether he dies or not. That's what he deserves!" Lee yelled, pulling back his leg to deliver another kick to the ex-mist ninja's face when he was interupted.

"Please...stop...don't hurt Zabuza-san anymore." Haku pleaded, lifting his head to reveal his maskless face. He smiled a kind smile at all of them.

"It's alright if he doesn't care about me. My only purpose is to serve him until I'm no longer of use, that is my reason for living." He finished with a slight laugh, looking oddly peaceful. Zabuza closed his eyes, placing his forehead against the floor of the house.

"Haku?" He asked, not looking up from his spot on the floor.

"Yes Zabuza-san?" Haku asked, somewhat surprised.

"Shut up." The boy looked taken back for a moment and Lee looked ready to kick him in the head again until he continued.

"Shut up about all that being a tool thing. From now on we're partners. Okay?" Zabuza finished, looking up at the boy with a calm look for a moment. Haku's eyes widened for a second before his face melted into a genuine grin.

"Okay!"

0-0-0

"So are you guys going to stay with us or what?" Naruto asked bluntly as Hinata tended to the wounds on his arms. The two rogue ninja gave him a strange look.

"What?" Zabuza and Haku asked at the same time.

"Yes! You two join us on our journey to find a new home! One where everyone is accepted!" Lee cheered, grinning at the two.

"It would be nice to have another girl around to talk to." Hinata added quietly. Everyone looked at her strangely. She blinked in confusion.

"W-what?"

"Hinata, Haku is a boy." Naruto pointed out with a 'duh' sort of tone. The young girl looked at the 'girl' in question her face growing gradually redder by the second until-SMACK!

"Oh wow, she feinted!" Naruto yelled, looking at the red faced girl on the floor.

"I hope she doesn't make a habit out of that." Itachi commented, picking the girl up and taking her to her room.

"I'm still confused." Haku stated with his hand raised as if he was in a classroom.

"Me too. We just tried to kidnap you," he pointed at Naruto, "and I tried to kill you," he pointed to Lee, "and I'm pretty sure that little girl has suffered some pretty deep emotional scarring." He jammed his thumb in Hinata's direction.

"Would you believe that's how we make all of our friends?" Naruto asked with a laugh.

"We're trying to give you a second chance. We know you've done some bad things in the past but the fact reamins that it's in the past. We're willing to forgive and accept you for you." Lee explained, looking at the two with a huge grin. The two rogue ninjas shared a look before turning back to the boys, Zabuza smirking under his bandages.

"Just where exactly are you planning to go?"

"A place where people can be accepted for who they are and if they're sincerly looking for forgiveness they'll get it." Lee answered with a difinate nod of his head.

"What if such a place doesn't exist?l Haku asked.

"We'll build it ourselves." Naruto replied, a determined fire shining in his eyes.

"Build it huh? I like the sound of that." Itachi said with a smirk.

"And who would live in such a place?" Zabuza asked with a raise eyebrow. Naruto thought for a moment, lips curling into a wolf-like grin.

"Demons looking for forgiveness."

"Well when you put it that way I guess we can't say no right Haku?" Zabuza asked his partner who nodded.

"Yay! Two more friends!" Lee cheered.

"Okay but Zabuza-oji we do have some rules." Naruto said, tone turning serious.

Zabuza raised an eyebrow, "Hmm?"

"You're going to have to start wearing a shirt."

A/N:Thank God it's done! This chapter was so long! But I think it was worth it. Lee sure was weird in this chapter huh? But his character was developed, I think I gave him seperation anxiety. Oh well, more fun for me later. Next chapter is the time skip! Also could you guys give me some ideas of rogue ninjas or ninjas that you think should be part of Oninomura-the village od demons? No OCs please ,just Naruto characters. Also what do you think the symbol on their forehead protector should be? Don't be afraid to tell my your ideas! Finally we'll be able to see what's going down in Konoha! Anyone else excited? I know I am! Also thanks for all the Faves, Alerts, Follows, and Reviews you guys! They always make me so happy so keep it up and I'll see you next time in Konoha!

-Watson


	4. The Village of Demons

A/N:It's finally here! The chapter we've all been waiting for has arrived! Yes, its finally time for our time skip you guys. So it's been six years since our trio left Konoha(five years since the last chapter) and here are the ages of our characters and I hope you enjoy the chapter:

Naruto and Hinata-13

Rock Lee-14

Haku-15

Itachi-18

Zabuza-26

Let it begin!

Disclaimer- I own Naruto as much as Justin Beiber is likely to win an oscar for best actor.*shakes head* It's just not true.

Chapter 4-The Village of Demons

The third Hokage sighed, leaning back in his chair and allowing all the pressure of his job to sink into his old bones. Nothing was going right it seemed. First there was the Nine-tails attack against the village and the death of the fourth Hokage himself. Then there was the disappearence of Naruto Uzumaki, and to a lesser extent the Hyuuga heir. This was quite troubling in itself. Who knew what sort of troubles the boy could get into with the fox's spirit locked inside him? And if he ever found out what he was the holder of? Sarutobi shuddered, not wanting to think of the implications. Various leaf shinobi were still searching for Naruto and the rest of his party, including the Hyuuga heir and an academy student known as Rock Lee. They saw no results from their years of searching but it made no sense! How did three children manage to evade team after team of highly trained shinobi with superior tracking skills. They weren't this good at the beginning though. As soon as the Hokage learned of the children's disappearence he sent out the village's best group of trackers after them. They were able to stay on their trail for the first fews weeks, nearly catching up with the group numerous times until all traces of them disappeared. There were no paths to follow anymore and they weren't able to catch one ever since. But this wasn't the only thing troubling his mind, there was also the emergence of Oninomura. The village of demons.

When he first heard about it he was being informed by one of his top shinobi of the recent activities of the Sand village a few years ago. It seemed that all three of the Kazekage's children disappeared without a trace, including Gaara another young jinchuuriki. Seeing as the Leaf and the Sand weren't allies the Hokage knew the siblings weren't something he should concern himself with but it was the details leading up their disappearnce that intrigued him. Days before their disappearnce the siblings were seen speaking to various groups of ninja that weren't affiliated with any of the other hidden villages, including their own. This aroused suspicion in the Sandaime but he let it slip for the moment since he was sure Suna could handle their own affairs without his interference. But they continued to pop up over and over again, these unaffliated shinobi. They weren't causing any trouble, simply popping up in various hidden villages for various reasons but he was starting to get worried about these strange occurances. They seemed to be making connections and working together with other villages, or at least creating treaties with each other. Which could spell disaster for his beloved village. Then it happened, they contacted him. It was very simple, nothing dramatic, just a sealed envelope addressed to the Hokage himself in very formal script. He had opened it with the upmost caution, remembering the shakiness of his hands that day. It was a very straightforward letter though, blunt and to the point. Their Kage, called the Chikakage, wanted to meet with him and discuss the possibilities of a treaty between Konoha and Oninomura. If he agreed the Chikakage would be willing to meet with him before the Chuunin exams which two groups of demon genin were participating in. Which brought Sarutobi to his final problem. The Chuunin exams. Konoha was given the honor of hosting them this year and the stress of making these exams great as a testament to his village was weighing heavily on his shoulders. He sighed again, dropping his head on his desk with a thud. He was getting too old for this stuff.

Suddenly he was no longer alone, one of his many attendants poofing into existence in front of him.

"Hokage-sama?"

"Hmm? Yes?" He asked, picking his head off his desk to look at who he was speaking to.

"The Demon shinobi have arrived at the front gates, sir. And you'll never believe who's with them."

0-0-0

"Man it's been a long time since I've seen this place." Naruto said with a bit of nostalgia in his voice, throwing his hands behind his head as he gazed at the village laid out before him. He didn't regret his decision to leave though, that was one of the best choices of his life.

"Are you sure you're alright with this Naruto?" Lee asked from his spot beside his best friend, looking at him in concern. He knew this was going to be hard for the jinchuuriki, hard for all of them.

"Of course! I should be asking you guys that question, right Hinata?" The blond laughed, turning to look at the only girl on their team.

The young Hyuuga gazed at the village before her, her expression almost completely blank of emotion. Her white eyes were set in a hard stare, gaze unwavering even as her leader asked her a question.

"Hmm." She said simply, crossing her arms over her chest in a show of insecurity. Was she ready for this? She was pulled from her thoughts as Naruto slipped his arm around her shoulder, giving his friend a reassuring squeeze. Hinata blushed slighly at the contact but managed to hide it well.

"Don't worry Hinata, we're all here for you. Right Lee?" He asked, slinging his other arm around the taller boy's neck.

"Yes! We will be able to handle this as long as we stick together!" The young taijutsu expert shouted excitedly, grinning at the Hyuuga with a thumbs up. Hinata smiled at her two friends, nodding her head in appreciation.

"Thank you both."

Naruto stepped away from the two, loudly clapping his hands together with a grin on his face.

"Okay! I already sent the others ahead of us to alert the Hokage of our presence so we should be good to walk down memory lane for a few minutes. You guys ready?" Naruto asked his two best friends, quirking an eyebrow in question.

"Yes!" They answered together, determination blazing to life in both pairs of eyes staring into his.

"Coming back here was a foolish choice boy."

Naruto laughed to himself, patting his stomach somewhat roughly directly onto the seal over his belly button. A deep voice growled in his head in warning. 'You worry too much Kurama.' He thought back, following after his friends without a second thought.

0-0-0

The Hokage looked at the group assembled before him, unable to stop the eyebrow that raised itself in question.

Zabuza matched his expression, gaze as unwavering as the old man's. The ex-mist nin had not changed much over the years, although he kept his word and now wore a navy blue sleeveless vest complete with various pockets and a high collar over his otherwise bare torso. He still wore his wrist and leg warmers, though now instead of striped they were covered in ink blot looking patterns. His face was still covered from the nose down by bandages, creating a mask of sorts and his forehead protector now held the symbol of his new village on its silver surface, three diagonal claw like marks that looked like they were made by a powerful beast.

Haku looked between the two staring men, feeling somewhat uncomfortable in this situation. He too wore his new village's forehead protector across his forehead, his in a straight posistion instead of askew like Zabuza's. Haku changed his attire over the years, opting for more masculine type clothing, after the confusion with Hinata. He wore a vest similar to Zabuza's except in black, a shirt made of ninja mest placed under that. On top of the mesh was a navy blue, long sleeved shirt that stopped at his wrists that were met with black fingerless gloves complete with a sheet of metal on the back of each hand with his village's symbol etched onto their surface. His hair was styled the same as always, held up in a tight bun, though now his bangs only came to the bottom of his chin, with twin senbon needles sticking out of the bun in case he couldn't reach the ones attached to his hip.

Itachi felt awkward despite his outward appearence of nonchalance. If he ever got his hands on those kids he was going to make them pay for putting him in this situation. Itachi wore his village's forehead protector in the form of a black bandana, covering up his midnight black hair that ran into a thin ponytail that stopped at the nape of his neck. He dressed in a short-sleeved black jacket that stopped just before his elbow and zipped up to his midsection. Underneath that was a crimson long sleeved shirt covered in a layer of ninja mesh that cut off at his wrists before a set of gloves like Haku's with two more symbols of his village on the backs. He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for someone to say something.

The ex-Sand siblings didn't know how to feel about this as they just stared between the other ninja in the room, except for Gaara who was more interested in his own demon forehead protector strapped to his arm. The siblings wore the same clothes they had worn when they lived in Suna, except for the new village's forehead protector they all had attached to a different part of their bodies. The two older siblings felt uneasy with all this tension in the air, while Gaara seemed unbothered by the circumstances they were in, like always.

"So," the Hokage began, turning everyone's attention to the old man.

"How have you all been?" Itachi had to resist the urge to slap himself in the face.

0-0-0

Sakura walked down the streets of Konoha, humming contently to herself. She was on her way to meet up with her team for the last fews days of preparation for the Chuunin exams. At first she was upset about being placed on a team with Kiba and Shino instead of Sasuke(her crush for who knew how long) but since there was a shortage of ninja in the class before them Sasuke was placed with an older team because he was the top of the class. She sighed at the missed opportunity, now she rarely ever got to see her Sasuke. She grinned evilly to herself, well at least that pig Ino got to see even less of him than she did.

"Psst!" Sakura paused for a moment, looking around herself quizzically. She shrugged, taking a step toward the training ground again.

"Psst! Sakura!" Okay she knew she heard something this time. She scanned her surrondings with a keen eyes until she came upon a bush, though the bush wasn't the strange part. No, the strange part was practically her entire genin class squeezed behind the small bush. Sakura blinked at them in confusion, trying to determine whether or not she should ignore them. Ino and Kiba waved towards her wildly from their spots behind the bush and Sakura felt obligated to at least go see what all the commotion was about. As soon as she got near them she was pulled down to her knees by both of her arms, nearly losing her balance if not for her two friends holding her.

"What are you guys doing?" She asked, looking at all the genin in confusion. Sure they were all friends but they rarely all hung out together at the same time like this.

"Shh!" They all hushed her.

"What are you doing?" She asked again but this time in a whisper to avoid the dreaded group hush.

"Check it out." Kiba whispered, nodding his head in the direction of the street she was just pulled from. The pink haired girl followed her teammate's gaze to the street, searching it for any strange occurance. At first she didn't see anything strange about the scene until her eyes fell onto three individuals walking lazily down the road.

On the left was a girl that looked to be about their age, walking with the hands behind her back in a bashful gesture. Her hair was a dark violet, her bangs falling just past her chin and framing her face. The rest of her hair was held up in a high ponytail that barely brushed the back of her neck. Her eyes were breath-taking, as white as a freshly caught pearl straight from the sea. Her skin was snow pale, clashing against the darkness of her hair but not in a bad way, in a way that made her seem radiant. She was dressed in a light purple and white hoodie with black trim along its edges, the hood pulled up to revealed two lavender fox type ears at the top. The sleeves of the hoodie widened at their ends, covering up the girl's entire hand except for the tips of her fingers. Her pants were of a similiar color scheme, stopping a few inches above her ankles. Around her thin neck was her dark violet forehead protector with a design that Sakura wasn't familar with.

Beside her was a boy that looked their age as well, though he was only a few inches taller than the girl. His hands were placed behind his head of spiky, yellow blond hair, a grin on his strangely whiskered face. Sakura wondered for a moment whether they were natural or tattoos of some sort. His blue eyes were trained on the road ahead of him, reminding Sakura of the clear ocean's surface. Wrapped around his forehead was a forehead protector with the same design as the girl's though his was black in color. He was dressed in a short sleeved coat that barely brushed his ankles as he walked. It was orange in color, black flame like designs wrapping around the bottom hem. Underneath that was an orange t-shirt with a red and black swirl design right in the middle of his chest with long sleeved ninja mest stopping at his wrists. His pants were black as well, red swirls that looked suspiciously like tails crawling up one of the legs, leaving the other blank.

Finally to the right of him was another boy, taller than both of his traveling companions. His raven black hair was shaggy, looking like a bowl cut that he allowed to grow out. His round bug eyes were nearly as black as his hair, eyes smiling contently as he walked alongside his friends. He was dressed in a forrest green shirt with no sleeves that showed off his tan, well muscled arms that were covered up to his elbows in white bandages, and a high collar that covered the bottom portion of his face much like Shino's coat. His white shorts came to a stop just below his knees, matching forrest green leg warmers attached at his calves. Attached to his back was a huge sword, nearly same length as his body and held onto by a brown strap wrapped across his chest. His bandaged hands were lazily shoved into his pockets which brought Sakura's attention to his red forehead protector that was wrapped around his waist loosely like a belt with same symbol on it as the two before him.

Sakura held her breath as the three mysterious ninja walked past their bush, hoping that they wouldn't notice them there. The three completely ignored them, continuing on their way down the street in the direction of the Hokage's tower. Sakura released the breath she had been holding in, leaning against the fense behind her in relief.

"Who were those guys? Were they here for the Chuunin exams?" Sakura asked aloud, not directing her question at anyone in particular though it was Shino who answered.

"Most likely and did you see the design on their forehead protectors. They are most definently Demon shinobi."

"Demon shinobi?" Kiba asked, looking at Akamaru with a confused look.

"Yeah, haven't you heard of them?" Shikamaru asked the other genin as if it were obvious. All of his classmates except for Shino shook their heads, causing the lazy boy to shake his own.

"How troublesome. The demon shinobi are ninja from Oninomura: the village of demons. No one knows how they got started, only that they started up suddenly a few years ago and began to build up their defenses so that they could attempt to become a full-fledged shinobi village and so far they're doing pretty well. To top it all off, all of their ninja seem to possess strength that far exceeds that of any normal ninja, as if their powers derive from demons themselves." Shikamaru explained, with a deep yawn as if the speech tired him out. Sakura felt a shiver run down her spine. Were there really people so powerful?

"Wait so nobody knows how these guys were formed or who created their village? That can't be true can it?" Ino asked her teammate skeptically.

"No one even knows where the village is. It's supposedly hidden with a powerful genjutsu that cloaks it from any outsiders, as for its formation there are some rumors. One of them being that Satan himself told one of his advisers to collect as many demons as he could and head to earth to exterminate the entire human race so that Satan could rule this land as his own, but I don't believe rumors." The lazy genius offered at the end, leaning back to stare at the clouds.

"Tsk, what a ridiculous theory." Sakura's head snapped towards the direction of the voice that had just spoken, a giddy grin bursting to life on her face.

"Sasuke-kun!"

0-0-0

"Itachi. It's been a while since I've seen you last." Sarutobi stated, smiling warmly at the young boy. Itachi stiffened as the old man addressed him, turning his dark eyed gaze onto him.

"Before you say anything Hokage-sama I would like to inform that I have already been accepted to Oninomura as a ninja of the village and that any actions that you wish to take against me for past crimes against the Leaf village will be seen as an insult to the village itself. We also have extensive treaties with various other hidden villages and starting a war with Oninomura wouldn't be a wise-" Itachi rushed all of these words out, trying to get them all out before the Hokage decided to have him forcibly removed from his chambers to be executed for his crimes against the Uchiha. He couldn't be killed before he got a chance to see him again. Before he had a chance finish though Sarutobi cut him off with a short chuckle and held up his hands in surrender.

"Slow down boy! I'm not planning to arrest you so you can stop trying to convice me of the politcal implications." The old man laughed, leaning back in his seat. Itachi left himself relax considerably, one of his many worries off of his chest. At least he wasn't going to be arrested for murder, at least not today. But there was still a question nagging him inside his brain, one that he had been dying to ask as soon as he entered this office.

"How is he?" Itachi asked, trying to keep the sadness out of his voice and flinching when it cracked in response.

The Sandaime smiled sympathetically at the young man before answering his question,"He's doing fine. He's been living with Kakashi Hatake since...the incident."

This caught his attention,"Kakashi?"

The old man nodded, "Yes. When Naruto disappeared Kakashi felt partially responsible for not being able to protect his teacher's son and when he found out that the young Uchiha was left alone he didn't want to make the same mistake twice and took the boy under his wing."

Itachi nodded his head in understanding. Yes that made sense. Itachi remembered Kakashi from his days in the ANBU. He was practically an unstoppable force of nature that once you were in his clutched he wouldn't let go until you were dead in his grasp. Itachi felt certain that a man like that would be more than capable to take care of his little brother. Though he wished that he was able to do it himself.

The Hokage's voice took him away from his thoughts, "So where is this Chikakage of yours?"

"He should be arriving any moment Hokage-sama." Zabuza answered formally, like he always did in these situations.

0-0-0

"You guys do know that we're being followed right?" Naruto asked his friends as they got closer to the Hokage's tower.

"Yes, I thought it was amusing when they were all hiding in that one bush." Lee laughed, continuing to walk at his leasurely pace beside his two best friends. The trio had nothing to worry about anyway, their pursuers were just genin after all.

"What should we do Naruto?" Hinata asked, trying to keep her face nuetral so she would not draw attention to herself. The three of them didn't need a confontation at the moment, they needed to stay as inconspicious as possible. Naruto smirked, quickly going through a specific set of hand signs.

"Multi-shadow clone jutsu." Suddenly four carbon copies of Naruto poofed into existance, all of them awaiting their orders.

"You know what to do." The clones nodded in understanding, disappearing in a flash.

"That should buy us some time." Naruto said, smiling back at his friends. His teammates shared a confused look.

"For what?" Lee asked.

"For that." Naruto pointed to the road before them just as a boy appeared in the road there. His dark, nearly black eyes glared at them, framed by his matching raven black hair. His arms were crosed over his royal blue clad chest in a gesture of hostility. He looked vaguely familiar and Hinata had to hold in a gasp as realization suddenly struck her. It was him!

"Who are you and what business do you have in my village?" Sasuke Uchiha demanded from the demon shinobi.

0-0-0

"So can you all tell me how you came to be part of Oninomura?" The Hokage asked in an attempt to pass the time. Truth be told it was getting awkward between the assembled group of ninja.

Haku smiled, speaking for the first time since arriving in the Hokage's office.

"It is very simple Hokage-sama. We were all save by a friend."

Zabuza scoffed, "Tsk, if by saved you mean forced to spend my time with a bunch of brats."

"Pay no attention to him, Hokage-sama, he's just intolerable." Itachi explained to the old man.

"What was that you midget? I couldn't hear you from all the way down there." Zabuza said, glaring at the Uchiha from across the room. To put it simply, Itachi was sensitive about his height. He was nearing his twenties and was still only 5' 7 which wasn't bad but was still smaller than Zabuza's large six foot frame. The other occupants rolled their eyes at the argument that was sure to ensue but it never came as one of the Hokage's attendants entered the room.

"Hokage-sama?" He asked, looking extremely nervous in the presence of the demon ninja and that red-haired kid giving him a crazed grin definantly wasn't helping.

"Yes?" The old man asked, turning his attention away from the two fueding ninja.

"The Chikakage is waiting outside along with his last genin team." He explained, trying to avoid eye contact with Gaara.

"Send him in please." Sarutobi ordered, his expression now completely serious. The shinobi nodded, pushing the door open to reveal four figures. The four entered the room, causing the Hokage's eyes to widen in realization. Standing before him were the three children who had disappeared from his village nearly six years ago, along with a man he presumed to be the Chikakage. He was a tall man, about as tall as Zabuza, dressed in the typical Kage robes just as he was except his were a fiery orange instead of red and the Kanji for fire was replaced with the one for underground on his hat. His face was covered with a white cloth attached to his Kage hat, only allowing the Hokage to see his crimson red eyes. The demon ninja bowed low to their kage, eyes trained on the ground.

"Chikakage-sama." They greeted. The man laughed in a deep, rumbling voice, waving off their bows.

"You all embaress me. Thank you for meeting with me Hokage-sama." The Chikakage addressed his fellow kage, bowing to him in respect. The Hokage watched him skeptically.

"What's up old man? Long time no see." Naruto greeted him, hands behind his head in his usual manner. The Sandaime smiled at the boy, pain tugging at his heart. He looked so much like his father from the wild spikey hair to the sharp blue eyes. The boy was met with a punch to the head by Zabuza, who restrained himself at the last second.

"Ow! What the heck Zabuza-oji?!" The boy demanded, rubbing his head.

"Shut up kid! Show the Hokage a little respect!" Zabuza yelled, holding up his hand as if he was going to hit the jinchuurikin again.

"Calm down you two-" The Chikakage began, trying to calm down his shinobi when he was cut off by a kunai embedding itself in his chest. His red eyes widened in shock as he coughed, red splattering across his white mask before he poofed out of existance. The occupants looked to the thrower of the kunai with wide eyes. The Hokage glared at the demon shinobi, his expression angry as he slammed his hands down on his desk.

"You must think of me as a fool if you thought that genin level shadow clone was going to trick me. Now I'm only going to ask you this one time. What's going on here?" He demanded, hardening his gaze at all of the demon shinobi.

0-0-0

Naruto smirked at the boy who he was sure was Itachi's younger brother, judging by the attitude and facial similarities. So this was Sasuke huh? Not very impressive.

"I don't see how that's any of your business." Naruto said, earning a surprised look from both of his teammates. Why was he being so hostile?

"What?" The youngest Uchiha demanded, taking a threatening step forward which caused Lee's hand to twitch, aching for his sword. The jinchuurki just grinned wider at the other boy's evident anger.

"You heard me. Why should I waste my time on a pathetic genin like you?" Naruto chuckled, looking right into the other boy's dark gaze, goading him. Naruto was curious. Was this kid up to his standards, was Itachi right about him? Looks like he was about to find out.

"What did you say?" Sasuke growled, anger burning in his chest. Just who did this guy think he was?

"Hey I know! Let's play a game!" Naruto shouted suddenly, holding up his hand in a eureka type pose. Lee and Hinata shared a confused look. What was Naruto playing at?

"What the heck are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, glaring at the blue eyed boy. This guy wasn't making any sense.

"You beat me in a fight and I'll tell you all you want to know but if you lose you get out of our way." Naruto proposed with a smirk. Take the bait, oh please take the bait.

"Deal." Sasuke agreed without a moment's hesitation. Now he could get in some training for the Chuunin exams and the answers he wanted.

"Wait Naruto," Lee interupted, pulling his friend to the side.

"We really have to get to the Hokage's office or the others are going to be really upset with us." Lee pointed out to his best friend in a hushed whisper so that only they could hear.

"That's true. Also why are you trying to pick a fight with this boy?" Hinata asked, confused with the blond's motives.

"Don't you guys know who that is?" Lee shook his head but Hinata seemed to see what he was getting at.

"That's Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto said, causing Lee's eyes to widen in surprise.

"I just want to test his abilities, see if he's as good as Itachi says." Naruto said with a shrug, as if it was nothing. The two teenagers nodded their heads in understanding.

"Okay but let me do it." Lee insisted. Now it was Naruto's turn to be shocked.

"Why-"

"We can't let anyone know about the full extent of your abilities before the Chuunin exams. It'll blow our cover." The taijutsu expert explained. Naruto frowned, not liking the fact that the other boy was right.

"Alright fine." He agreed with a pout, crossing his arms over his chest like a child. He really wanted to fight him. It was boring just standing around looking cool all the time.

"What are you talking about over there?" The Uchiha called out to the small group.

"Oh, nothing. Just a change of plans, you'll be fighting my friend here instead." Naruto said, patting Lee on the back.

Sasuke smirked, "Scared huh?"

Naruto smiled, "You could say that."

Lee stepped forward, pulling his bandaged hands from his pockets to address the other boy.

"Here are the rules. You can use any jutsu or other abilities that you have at your disposal. No weapons. Got it?" Lee asked, pulling his weapons bag off his thigh and tossing it on the ground.

"What's stopping you from using that sword on you back?" Sasuke asked, refraining from disarming himself for the moment. Lee smirked behind his collar.

"You can't beat me if I take this sword off." Sasuke growled at the comment as the green clad boy continued.

"But if you insist you can call one of your friends hiding on the rooftops to come hold it for me." The genin on the rooftops froze at the strange boy's comment, looking at each other in shock. How did he know they were there? Kiba was the first to move, knowing that hiding was pointless now and jumping down onto the street. He was soon followed somewhat apprehensively by the rest of the genin.

"I'll hold it." He said, his hands tucked into his jacket's pockets. Lee shrugged, first tossing the dog-like boy his weapons bag which he caught effortlessly and quickly followed by his sword. Kiba though, wasn't prepared for the large projectile now flying towards him and barely managed to dodge it. The large sword hit the ground hard, creating a giant cloud of dust that swirled around the group of teenagers. The leaf genin coughed, trying to swat the dust away from their eyes. When the dust settled the young ninja were greeted by the sight of a large crater in the street where Lee's sword had landed, all their eyes widening in surprise.

"Dude what the heck!" Kiba yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Lee.

"I can't believe you threw that thing at me!"

"I thought you were going to catch it." He said with a shrug.

"How did you expect me to catch something so heavy!? That thing must weigh a ton!" Kiba continued to yell but Sakura ignored him and focused on the other demon ninja who seemed unfazed by the ridiculousness of their teammates sword. Just who were these guys? Suddenly Naruto stood stock still, memories from one of his Shadow clones flittering through his mind. He cursed himself, they didn't have much time.

"Bushy brow, make it quick." Naruto stated in a serious tone, allowing his friend to know the gravity of the situation. Sasuke frowned at the other boy's words, just for that he was going to drag this fight on as long as possible. Lee nodded, punching his fists together in preparation.

"Understood."

Sasuke scoffed, getting into his fighting stance.

"Let us have a most honorable fight." Lee stated with a smile, holding out his hand out to the other boy. He was nothing if not a good sportsman. Sasuke just looked at his hand and frowned.

"Whatever."

"On my mark." Naruto began, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched the two fighters.

"Ready, set, fight."

Almost instantly Sasuke went into a meddly of hand signs, inhaling deeply.

"Fire release:Great fireball techinque!" He exhaled, shooting a large swirling ball of flames out of his mouth and towards his opponent. Lee watched as the fireball barrelled towards him, allowing it to advance on him until the last moment. Lee sidestepped, the flaming sphere whizzing past him harmlessly.

"You're going to have to try harder than that." Lee said, a bit of amusement in his voice. Sasuke growled at the boy's mocking tone, going through even more hand signs.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Three Sasukes poofed into existance around the original, all running at Lee without hestitation. Lee ducked the first of the clones punches, grabbing his wrist and swinging him into another Sasuke clone that popped out of existance at the contact. Another Sasuke sent a barrage of punches aimed at the boy's torso which he dodged with expert precision as the other Sasuke attemted to sweep his legs out from under him. Lee flipped backwards, landing on his hands for a moment before flipping back onto his feet. Before he had a chance to launch himself back at his enemy when he felt something lock onto his legs. He looked down, eyebrow raising at the Sasuke that was attached to his leg seemingly strouting from the ground. Smart, creating another shadow to barrell underground for a sneak attack. He was met with a kick to the face, snapping his head to the side from the shock. The Uchiha continued his assault on the taijutsu expert, who managed to block most of his blows. Lee quickly twisted his body, wretching his legs free of the youngest Uchiha, managing to kick in the clone out of existance in the process. He launched himself at one of the remaining Uchiha, grabbing him by the head and ramming his knee into his forehead, popping the clone. He swung himself around, sweeping Sasuke's feet out from under him. Lee got under the other boy, kicking him in the back and launching him into the air. The dark-haired boy attempted to flip himself over so that he could land on his feet but was grabbed out of the air by Lee who wrapped him arms around the boy and posistioned them so that they were free falling towards the ground head first. Lee locked his hands together, holding onto the Uchiha tight so that he would be unable to escape as the two rushed towards the ground. Moments before contact with the street Lee released the Uchiha, landing down next to his friends and waiting to see Sasuke's impact. It never came as a flash suddenly struck past them, snatching the falling boy out of the air at the last moment.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he caught sight of who just saved him from an unpleasent meeting with the ground. His heart sped up in his chest and his palms suddenly became sweaty, his throat becoming dry. Itachi glared at his genin team, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Just what do you three think you're doing?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I would like to know that as well." The Hokage said, walking up to the group of ninja from the direction of the Hokage's tower. The three demon shinobi shared a look. Uh Oh.

A/N: Dun, Dun, Dun! Sorry to leave you guys with the cliff hanger but I feel like this is where the chapter should end. Also sorry about chapter 3, I guess I didn't upload the correct file but it should be fixed now. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.

-Watson


	5. Life in Konoha Part 1

A/N: Hey guys! I'm glad to hear you guys liked the last chapter! I wasn't really sure if I got across the point I wanted so thanks for that. So the bad news is after this chapter my posts will becoming slower since school is starting up again and if I don't focus there I'll be grounded and that'll mean no chapters at all which is pretty much why none of my other stories haven't been updated. The chapter is mainly filler and it's mostly going to focus on the trio getting reaquianted(did I spell that right) with the village and meeting up with the rest of the Konoha 12 and a few others. But it should be pretty funny. Lastly I would like to give praise to one of my reveiwers chaos267 who has reveiwed every one of my chapters and everytime I read one it makes me really happy to know someone enjoys my story so much so keep it up! Anyway, onto the chapter!

Disclaimer- I own a pair of glasses, this story's plot, a sketchbook and a three year old dog. Notice how Naruto isn't on that list?

'Hello'-Thoughts/ Kurama speaking

Chapter 5- Life in Konoha Part 1

Naruto pouted from his seat in the Hokage's office, kicking at the ground in a very childlike manner. He was a ninja for Pete's sake, not some child that needed to be sent to the principal's office. Okay he admitted that yelling, 'Run, it's the fuzz!' When the Hokage arrived and trying to flee probably wasn't the best idea but it was funny at the time. Now he was paying for with his arms restrained by chakra rope tied around his seat to keep him from running away. This was extreme to say the least, not to mention it pissed him off immensly. He was getting lectured by the old man right now, not to mention Itachi-nii, who was probably upset that he got Lee to beat up his little brother. He was just fooling around, was what he told them when they demanded reasons for his actions. You should've seen how red their faces got after he said that, redder than Hinata's face when he caught her getting dressed that one time. No, no! Don't think about that right now! It took him three weeks to be able to look the Hyuuga heiress in the eyes again.

'Pay attention runt.' The Kyuubi rumbled inside his mind, knowing that anything that happened to the boy had significant impact on his own existance.

'Why should I? They tied me to a chair Kurama!' The junchuurki thought back angrily at his prisoner.

'For one the old man has just asked you a question.' The fox pointed out plainly, a hint of smugness in his deep voice. Naruto looked up to catch the Hokage and Itachi-nii looking at him expectantly with an eyebrow raised in question.

"Could you repeat that?" The blond deadpanned, earning a glare from his elders.

"Naruto," Itachi-nii sighed, rubbing his temples in slow, soothing circles. This boy was going to be the death of him, that was a given.

"Yes Itachi-nii?" The young boy asked innocently, batting his eyelashes at the man.

"Why would pick fights on your first day back in the village?" The Uchiha ground out between clenched teeth. Naruto rolled his eyes, this question again huh? Apparently all of his previous, nonchalant answers weren't good enough for them. Truthfully he just wanted to test the youngest Uchiha's skill and see if he was really growing stronge enough so that he could kill Itachi-nii like the man said numerous times. So far, Naruto wasn't impressed. The raven haired boy couldn't even beat Bushy brow, who had an extreme disadvantage with his lack of nin or genjutsu. Although, since Lee didn't have to divide his focus between three different skill sets he focused all his energy on taijutsu which made him highly specialized in the area but that was niether here no there. But basically, Sasuke wasn't anywhere close to being able to defeat Itachi, which Naruto was glad for at the moment not only for his own relationship with the oldest Uchiha but for the relationship between the brothers themselves. Sasuke's reaction to his brother could be classified as anything other than pleasent.

It basically included Sasuke jumping away from this brother like he was on fire and drawing a kunai that he had hidden somewhere on his person (Naruto had to resist the urge to yell 'Cheater!' At the younger boy due to the rules of the fight). Itachi quickly blocked the boy's attack with a saddened expression on his face, striking one of the boy's pressure points and knocking him unconsious. Naruto was struck with sadness at the scene, his own heart clenching in his chest. He could only imagine what it felt like for the both of them, to have a someone you loved kill your entire family or to have to abandon the one you loved most in the world. He didn't know how he was going to do it but he vowed to himself that he would make things right between the two brothers.

"Well?" The Hokage asked, pulling Naruto from his troubling thoughts. Oh yeah, the reason he started the fight. Naruto thought for a moment. He could tell them the real reason but that would alert Itachi-nii to his plans for him and his brother and he would put a stop to that real quick. On the other hand, he could always just screw with them. He grinned a wolfish grin, yeah he liked that idea.

The two men before him shared a worried glance as they caught sight of the boy's slightly crazed expression. This couldn't be good.

"Don't you get it?" The boy laughed, his voice getting rougher and more feral sounding with each word he spoke. Sarutobi tried to keep a calm demeanor but he was having trouble. This couldn't really be happening could it? Naruto hadn't lost his control over over the nine-tailed beast, had he? The Sandiame felt fear creeping into his old heart. If he had then the Hokage needed to put a stop to it before the beast took complete control over the boy.

"Naruto, hold on-" The Third began but was cut off by the boy's sudden eruption of manic laughter. Naruto looked up at the two men with a feral grin, his enlongated canines bared in animalistic excitement. His eyes were transformed from their clear blue to as red as freshly drawn blood with thin cat-like slit pupils, the whiskers on his face becoming thicker and more prominent on his face. Fiery red chakra swirled around his body, giving him the appearence of being on fire. Sarutobi's heart stopped beating in his chest.

"Kurama told me to do it! He wanted the blood of the last Uchiha on our hands, the demon said it would feel good! That it would make me stronger!" The jinchuuriki laughed evilly, the ropes around him snapping like twigs around his body, allowing the boy to kick the chair away and smash to pieces against the nearest wall.

Itachi's hand twitched for the kunai at his side but he couldn't bring himself to draw his weapon against to the boy who had been like his brother for the past six years. Naruto always had control over the nine-tails so what had changed now? Was it the added stress of returning to his old village of tormentors? Itachi cursed himself, he knew he shouldn't have let the Chikakage to talk him into bringing him back here. Now he had unleased the fury of the nine-tailed fox on Konoha again.

"And the best part is..." Naruto trailed off, advancing on the two men while fiery chakra swirled and crackled around him.

"Now I'll have my revenge on Konoha and no one will be able to stop me!" The boy laughed, crouching down on all fours and prepared to launch himself at the two shinobi with a feral snarl when he suddenly burst into a fit of giggles. The Hokage blinked in confusion, did he just giggle? Now there was no holding back as Naruto erupted into a series of loud guffaws, falling onto his back and rolling on the floor in hysteria. The two looked at each other for a moment before turning back to the young jinchuuriki dying on the floor. What was going on?

Naruto sat up, laughing lightly and wiping tears out of his once again blue eyes. His features reverted back to their normal appearence, the flowing red chakra dispersing around him into the air.

"Just kidding, got you good though didn't I?" He asked with a wolfish grin, throwing his hands behind his head in happiness.

'My powers are wasted on you.' Kurama stated in a tone that led Naruto to believe that the demon was shaking his head in his prison.

Itachi was the first to recover from his shock, advancing on the young blond.

"I'm going to kill him." He said simply, rolling his red sleeves up his muscled arms.

Sarutobi was inclined to let him.

0-0-0

After prying Itachi's hands from around Naruto's neck the Sandiame asked him to wait outside with the other demon shinobi while he talked with the boy.

The Third used this time to silently observe the boy before him, who was forced to stand due to his breaking the only other seat in the office. He made a note to himself to get that replaced. Naruto wasn't much different from the day he left the village. He of course was had changed physically, growing at least a foot in height and his face losing some of its childhood chubbiness. One of the most notable changes to the boy were the fangs that he now had protruding from his mouth that gave the boy a more intimidating look then he would have had without them. But despite all those changes he was still the same Naruto he knew. The same energetic and cocky attitude, refusing to be denied by anyone. Sarutobi allowed a smile to curl onto his lips, he was so much like his father. And his mother too, if he still had that short fuse he was famous for.

"How did you do that?" The Hokage asked, quite curious about the boy's extensive control over the demon fox's chakra and whether he'd be able to control it forever.

"Hmm? You mean the transformation thing? Oh, well Kurama just lends me some of his power whenever I need it but he does require a little bit of payment." The boy stated nonchalantly, as if speaking of a friend that had loaned him a dollar. The word 'payment' though is what caught the Hokage's attention.

"Payment?" The old man asked, worried of what Naruto was using to repay his debt to the fox. Was he allowing him partial control over the boy's body? Or giving the fox freedom for his services?

"Yeah, he requires I pay homage to him is all. That's what the fangs are for." The blond explained, opening his mouth to point at his sharp canines.

"Oh." The Sandiame replied lamely, though the boy didn't seem to notice as he continued to explain with a laugh.

"Yeah but it could be a lot worse. You should have seen the time when I grew fox ears and a tail. I got funny looks from the other villagers for a week, and animal based jokes from Zabuza-oji to this day." The boy laughed, rubbing the back of his neck in slight embarressment. Sarutobi nodded his head in understanding but he wasn't really listening as more and more questions popped into his head.

"So how did you-"

"Get control over him?" Naruto finished as if he had gotten the questions numerous times before. The Third nodded.

"It wasn't that hard really. He started showing up after my fight with Itachi-nii," he paused for a moment, tapping his chin as if trying to remember as Sarutobi leaned forward in anticipation.

"I was scared of him at first, well no that's not true. I was afraid of what he represented. All the years of the hateful stares I got from the villagers as a child all made sense. In their eyes I truly was a monster, a demon that destroyed their homes and families and that worried me. I kept trying to tell myself that it was the fox that caused all that pain and suffering but it's kind of hard to believe yourself with a demon whispering in your ear all the time. Man, Kurama you sure were a jerk back then." He said, directing his last comment at the ceiling which caused the Hokage to raise an eyebrow. He must have been speaking with the Kyuubi.

"Anyway, the more I thought about it the more I found myself in my mind talking to him. He was always talking to me, giving me and more information about my past in an attempt to break me so he could take over my body as his own..." He trailed off for a moment, a gleam of tears filling the boy's eyes. The third Hokage felt his heart breaking as he realized the boy's implications.

"He told you about your parents." He guessed, his fears realized as the young boy nodded his head.

"Yeah, but at first I didn't believe him. And later when I asked Itachi-nii and he didn't deny it like I thought he would I accepted it. I was really upset but I realized that what they did made more and more sense to me as I thought about it. I mean, it couldn't have been easy for them to do that. Giving up their lives and future with their own son for the sake of their village was a really admirable thing. I realized that hating them for it wasn't going to make it untrue or change the past so I moved on. That's all I could do." He sniffled, fighting back tears before he continued.

"So when Kurama realized that he couldn't defeat me through insults or petty tactics he resolved to beat me into submission. Every time I spoke with him he tried to goad me into a fight, using any tactic possible to get me to fight him for dominance. I was wary, not allowing my temper to get the best of me until I felt like I was confident that I could defeat him. Well that moment came a little earlier then I thought it would. I was fighting a particularly strong enemy when I asked for some of the nine-tails chakra. He refused to give me any unless I agreed to battle for dominence of my body. I was low on chakra and my opponent wasn't anywhere near tiring so I had no choice but to agree. After we defeated the other ninja I kept true on my promise and released Kurama from his cage so that we could fight." The Hokage's eyes widened at the boy's statement as he jaw nearly dropped to the floor. This boy actually released the nine-tails from his prison? Was he crazy?

"For most of the battle I was just playing keep away, trying to stay alive long enough so that I could complete the new prison that I was building in my mind that would allow me more access to the demon's power but not allow the demon to take over my body without my consent like when I get angry. Eventually I managed to get him into the cage and lock him inside. At first he was furious at me for tricking him but he eventually came to accept and respect me as his jailer." He finished, with a slight grin.

"Not to mention I totally kicked his tail, or his nine-tails." The boy laughed at his own joke, earning an eyeroll from the Hokage.

Sarutobi couldn't believe it, this boy was truly something else. Able to defeat the nine-tails by himself at such a young age? He was truly a prodigy and an asset that he was sorry the Leaf village was unfortunante enough to loose.

"Thank you Naruto. You can leave now." He dismissed, he certainly had a lot to think about. The boy nodded, walking towards the door.

"Could you please send Zabuza and Itachi in after you please?" He called just as the boy reached the door.

"Whatever you say old man." The boy stated with a shrug, throwing open the door and leaving the office. A few moments after he left the two demon jounin walked in, expression as serious as always.

"You wanted to see us Hokage-sama?" Itachi asked, looking a little uncomfortable. 'He must still be upset about his meeting with his brother.' Sarutobi thought sadly. He knew what it felt like to be at odds with one's own family.

"Yes I wanted to get back to my question about what is particulary going on with your Kage."

The two ninja shared a look before Zabuza decided to speak for the both of them.

"Our apologies Hokage-sama but the Chikakage is unable to make it to discuss the possibilities of a treaty at the moment. Something important came up with one of our allies that he needed to handle so he had to stay in Oninomura to take care of it. He won't be able to speech with you until after the first half of the Chuunin exams."

"Rather than disappoint you or make you think badly about our village he felt it best to send a shadow clone in his place unaware that you would be able to see through our trick." Itachi explained further, looking embarresed of their Kage's behavior. Sarutobi smiled at the two, remembering the poor decisions he made when he was younger as well.

"Your Kage must be relatively young if he was worried about such trivial things."

Zabuza smirked behind his bandages, thankful that no one could see his expression at the moment.

"You could say that."

A/N: Yeah I know I said this would include the rest of the Konoha 12 but this ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be so I'm just going to break it into two parts instead of one huge chapter. It should be up some time later today.

-Watson


	6. Life in Konoha Part 2

A/N: The introduction of the rest of the Konoha 12 will be in this chapter. As well as a few surprise guests. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer- Naruto? Mine? You're hilarious.

Chapter 6- Life in Konoha Part 2

To put it simply, the demon genin were bored. Well except Haku. He was a bored jounin. So instead of waiting around for Naruto to finish his talk with the Hokage, the group of teenagers instead decided to explore the village. They walked around aimlessly, drawing attention from the civilian populations wherever they went. Lee immeadiantly wanted to head to the training ground which was quickly vetoed much to the taijutsu expert's chargin. Temari wanted to head down to the shopping district to see what kind of the clothes the village had for sale which was turned down by all of the boys, excluding Haku who didn't mind shopping that much. Finally Gaara spoke up, which was such a rare occurence that the others had no choice but to pay attention.

"Let's go to the park." He said, straight and the point with his pale arms crossed over his chest. The group looked at him strangely, as if he had grown another head, which wasn't that farefetched for him.

"What?" He demanded, feeling uncomfortable under his gazes which wasn't somehing he liked.

"Why would you want to go to the park of all places?" Kankuro, his brother, asked with a bewildered expression on his face. Gaara shrugged, heaving his ever present higher onto his shoulder.

"Sand box." He said simply.

"Oooh." They all said together, as if the two words explained everything.

"Any objections?" Temari asked, looking around the group of teenagers.

"I don't care as long as it's not shopping." Kankuro grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

Haku smiled sweetly, "I've never been to a children's park before. I'm very excited about all the enjoyable things I will be able to experience there."

Hinata spoke quitely, holding her hand in front of her mouth so that her voice came out slightly muffled, "I'm fine with the park as long as there's a swing set." She didn't say it outloud but swingsets always reminded her of her favorite knucklehead ninja. She blushed slightly at the thought.

"Then the park it is! There Gaara and I can have our marvelous remarch that will trump any battle that has come before !" Lee yelled enthusiastically, lauching himself to throw an arm around the two-tails jinchuuriki when his face was met harshly with a solid wall of sand.

See, Lee and Gaara had a fierce rivalry, though it was mostly Lee proclaiming Gaara to be his rival while Gaara just stared at him blankly. It all started when a few years ago when Lee was about eleven years old. He and the rest of his team, including his teammates Hinata and Naruto and their jounin leader Itachi went on a mission to Suna to discuss the possibility of a peace treaty. The Chikakage appointed them to accompany him for this particular task, as well as any other diplomatic endeavor, since they all seemed able to appeal to the better side of a person's humanity and get the job done quickly. When they arrived at the Kazekage's tower they were greeted with the sight of the Kazekage standing along side his three children, but the one with the red hair in particular caught his attention. He stared at Lee's group coldly, his eyes were filled with hatred, anger, slight insanity, and what caught his attention, lonliness.

When Lee was dismissed for the night he went in search of the red head, determined to learn more about him and why he had such a sad and defeated look in his eyes. At the time Lee wondered if he ever looked like that, so broken and cold. He'd been alone his entire life and he knew the feeling this other boy was going through and he felt that they could understand each other. That they could be friends.

When Lee found him he was sitting on the roof by himself, his gaze focused on the stares above him. Lee frowned, it was incredibly late was he was dismissed and he had partially doubted he would find the boy awake, but there he was. Lee had opened his mouth to say something to their other boy along the lines of 'Hey, you look lonely. Wanna be friends?' When he suddenly had to dodge a stream of snad rushing towards his heart.

The boy was staring at him, his eyes blank as he sent more sand towards him. It took all of Lee's speed and reflexes to stay alive during that fight, though still earning a broken arm in the it was one of the best fights of his life, a real challenge to the young taijutsu expert that he'd never faced before. The truth was his taijustsu was usually able to get past anyone's defense, due to his in human speed but he wasn't even able to touch Gaara. This lit a fire in his heart that he needed to be fueled at any chance he got. He needed to be challenged. So the next time he saw Gaara he proclaimed to be rivals and demanded a rematch on the spot. Gaara, who was partially curious about the taijutsu specialist, agreed. From that day on whenever the two of them had any free time there were usually found together, fighting.

What intrigued Gaara about Lee was that no matter how many times he knocked him down, or defeated him in battle he would just grin and get back up again. This annoyed Gaara to now end and he made it his personal goal to make sure that green clad boy wouldn't be able to get up after one of his hits again. During one of their particularly nasty fights, their last battle while they were in Suna actually, Gaara had broken both of Lee's arms, dislocated one of his shoulders, and broke the bone in his right leg, yet even after all of that he still got up, wobbling slightly as he attacked. Gaara was furious that the older boy wouldn't stay down, even going so far as to yell at him, "Why won't you just die?!" What he wasn't expecting was Lee to answer. He said it was his ninja way that alowed him to get up after such a series of punsishng blows such as the ones Gaara had dealt to him in the few weeks they had know each other. He would never give up on anything or anyone as long as he had breath still in his lungs and life still in his body. The redhead just stared at him for a few moments before he simply turned and walked away.

Lee was hospitalized directly after that fight, first at the Suna hospital then at the ones in Oninomura when they returned home later on. But just as Lee and his team were leaving back to Oninomura they were met at the gates by not other than Gaara himselfaam He had simply stated that there was nothing left for him in Suna and that he wished to come with them back to Oninomura. Lee, of course, was estatic at the prospectic of his new rival coming home with them and Chikakage himself personally agreed to allow the jinchuuriki to come with them. Just as they were about to leave they were flagged down by Gaara's siblings who also wished to come with them, stating that they had to protect their little brother at all costs, even if he didn't need it. It was quite touching really. From that point on the two were close friends as well as fierce rivals, though Gaara wasn't as comfortable with physical contact as Lee was which was evident by the wall of sand in his friend's face

0-0-0

Thankfully the park they found did in fact have a swingset, and a sand box, as well as a jungle gym complete with monkey bars, slides and gymnatsic equitment. The group quickly set off on their various tasks, Gaara heading directly to the sand box with Lee trailing behind him demanding a rematch, Hinata sitting on the swings while smiling contently. Temari quicly heading over to the monkey bars, determined to increase her upper arm strength while Kankuro deposited himself under the shade of a tree and began fiddling with his puppet Crow. Haku stared at the various play structures before deciding on the climbing wall as his first adventure on a real playground.

Hinata sat on the swings, pushing herself back and forth lightly as she let her mind wander to a certain blond. She hoped Naruto wasn't getting into too much trouble at the Hokage's office, it wasn't entirely his fault. Sasuke was the one who refused to get out of their way but it was Naruto's fault for monopolizing the situation. The violet haired girl wondered why he would decide to take advantage of the situation in such a way. He knew that they were trying to keep a low profile, at least for the time being seeing as the Chuunin exams were starting in a few days and they didn't want to expose their skills to the other teams. The Hyuuga sighed, sometimes he just didn't understand the blond.

"Well if it isn't the deserter."

Hinata looked up at the person who just spoke to her, her blood freezing in her veins. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening, she wasn't ready, not yet. She attempted to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat but was unsuccesful. A pair of white eyes nearly identical to hers glared down at her, fury evident in their pearly gaze. Hinata built up as much courage as she could and addressed the figure in front of her without stuttering, thankfully.

"Hello Neji-niisan."

0-0-0

"Gaara please refrain from playing in the sand and fight me!" Lee demanded, already in his fighting stance. Gaara ignored in him and continued to construct his sand catsle, moving the sand that it created a moat around his beautiful castle. Yes it was coming along nicely. But unfortunently for him his sand castle was quickly destroyed by a pair of blue ninja sandal clad feet. Oh, they were going to pay for that. Gaara looked up to glare at the person who destroyed his beautiful sand castle only to discover that she wasn't even looking at him, she glaring at Lee and if she even noticed his sand castle she didn't show any indication of it. The girl placed her hands on her hips before nearly deafening Gaara with her shrill shriek.

"You're the guy that beat up Sasuke-kun!" The blond yelled, causing everyone within a mile radius to cringe at the sound of her voice. Lee just smiled at the girl, unfazed by the loudness of her voice, probably because he was just as loud.

"I would not say I beat him up. It was a valiant fight that we both agreed to participate in-" Lee was cut off during his explanation by the girl poking him roughly in the chest. He frowned behind his high collar, well that hurt.

"Listen you, you better consider yourself lucky that Sasuke-kun took it easy on you or you'd just be a stain on the ground already." She growled, poking his chest with each word. Man that was annoying.

"Um, I..." He trailed off, unsure of what to say but he was saved by the appearence of another, this one with pink hair.

"Ino what are you doing?" The pink haired girl asked, casting a worried glance at the two demon shinobi. Gaara stared blankly at her until she averted her gaze. He smirked inwardly, he still had it.

"Trying to show these demon ninja who's boss and to tell him he just got lucky when he beat Sasuke-kun." The blond, Ino, continued, still glaring at Lee who felt somewhat cornered.

"It wasn't luck." Gaara stated plainly, going back to building his sand castle. Again.

"What was that?" Ino asked, turning her glare onto the redhaired boy. Gaara sighed, he hated repeating himself.

"Lee is the only person I've met that can fight on an equal level as myself. If he beat you're friend it wasn't luck." Gaara explained, creating a tower for his castle. Yeah that was nice. Ino, however, was turning as red as Gaara's hair as the pink haired girl tried to calm her down.

"What did you just say?!"

0-0-0

Haku easily climbed up the rockwall with immense speed, doing so without so much as breaking a sweat. He smiled sadly to himself as he reached the top. So this was what he was missing huh? He had to say he was quite sad he missed this part of his childhood, playing in parks and such. There wasn't really that much time for normal stuff like this was he was taken in by Zabuza and due to Oninomira being such a new village there weren't that many children and thus no need for playgrounds. His smile widened a bit, 'Well at least I have time for it now.'

"You call that fast?" Haku looked down at the ground, where the voice originated. There below him stood a boy that for some reason reminded him of a dog with a puppy sitting on top of his head. Well that not something you see every day.

"I like to think so." Haku stated sounding slightly offended. What was wrong with his speed? The dog like boy grinned at him, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We'll show you fast. Right Akamaru?" The dog on top of his head barked in response. Very strange indeed.

0-0-0

Kankuro continued to fiddle with Crow, trying to re-adjust the puppets jaw that had taken a nasty in a recent fight. He jerked it's head to the side, jaw realigning. He smirked to himself, satisfied.

"Mind if I sit here? Standing is too troublesome." Kankuro looked up to see a sleepy looking boy with a pineapple type ponytail pointing to the spot next to him. He shrugged, scooting over to give the other boy more room to sit.

0-0-0

Temari swung herself from bar to bar, barely working up a sweat as she traveled back and forth multiple times.

"You should take inspiration from the black widow." Temari stopped mid-swing, inclining her head to look at who just spoke to her. She raised an eyebrow at the two boys standing beside the monkey bars, one wearing dark shades while the other stuffed his face with chips.

"What was that glasses?" The boy in question responded by pushing up said glasses before speaking to her again.

"The black widow uses her body weight to create her moemnt and increases it with the fluidity of her movement. Trying keeping your movements fluid instead of bending your arms as you swing." He stated helpfully. She wasn't so sure but she followed his advice, allowing herself a smooth transition from bar to bar and it was surprisingly easier.

"Hmm, thanks bug boy."

"I don't know how she can do that. It looks like so much work." The round boy said, stuffing another handful of chips into his mouth.

0-0-0

Hinata gripped the swingset with white knuckles, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Her breathing was ragged as she stared at her cousin in fear. The girl beside him looked wearily between the two family members, a confused look on her face.

"Neji, what's going on?" The girl asked.

The Hyuuga ignored her, continuing to glare at the younger girl.

"How dare you show your face back here after what you did, you pathetic excuse of a heir." He spat, disgust evident in his voice. Hinat cringed at his tone, shrinking up under his gaze.

"Whoa! Neji that was completely uncalled for!" The girl yelled at him, anger on her face.

"Be quiet TenTen. This is of none of your concern." The branch member said back, battling to keep his tone calm. Hinata took a hollow breath, maybe if she ignored him he'd go away. Just leave her alone, but she knew that wasn't true. Abandoning the clan was a serious offense, one that was punishable by death even. She wasn't scared of that though. She was afraid of facing her father after all these years. If he looked at her like a failure back then imagine what he'd do to her now. She couldn't go back to those looks, to those hate filled eyes that seared her very soul.

"You should be disgusted with yourself, after all the clan has done for you and you just threw it all away." What the clan has done for her? Was he serious? Maybe he was talking about all the times theyforced her head into the floor during training? Or the severe beatings she got during those sessions, only to get back up and do it again and do it again in the morning?

"You're an ungratful brat and I'm taking you back to Hiashi-sama." He said curtly, grabbing for her arm. No, she couldn't go back! She couldn't handle their looks! Before she could strike out on her own she was beat to it, a strong hand gripping Neji's wrist.

"Don't you dare touch her." Naruto growled at the older boy, baring his fangs in a snarl.

0-0-0

So that was Naruto huh? The boy definantly had grown since he last saw him, he was a real runt back then. Kakashi watched the group of kids below him, peeking over the pages of his famous little orange book. He certainly was a lot different than the big headed, arrogant kid he was a few years back. He was powerful. But Kakashi couldn't help wondering if he was too powerful. He might have been listening in on the Hokage's conversation with the blond and his strength was unbelievable, if what he said was true. The silver haired man was more than skeptical to say the least but he would just have to wait it out and see. He felt the slight dip of his branch as someone landed beside him, he continued to watch the children as if nothing happened.

"Is there a reason why you're watching my genin?" Kakashi's eyebrow raised at the voice before he spoke.

"Hmm, I was expecting Itachi." Zabuza narrowed his eyes at that comment, he hated being compared to that runt.

"The Hokage had some things to discuss with him." The ex-mist nin explained hotly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hn." Was Kakashi's reply. The two sat in silence for a moment.

"You know, when you read that book and watch children like that it makes you seem like a pedophile right?" Kakashi nearly fell of his branch at that comment.

0-0-0

Naruto glared at the boy before him, obviously one of Hinata's relatives. When he was released from the Hokage's office he was surprised to see that none of his friends had waiting for him. Despite his obvious hurt he decided to look for them, coming across the demon shinobi in the park. It was an odd scene when he got there, that was for sure. Gaara and Lee were getting yelled at by a blond girl while another with pink hair tried to restrain her. Haku was racing a puppy up the rock wall while a dog-like boy cheered them on. Temari was on the monkey bars while two boys watched her swing from bar to bar with ease and Kankuro...well nothing was really strange about what Kankuro was doing but some pineapple headed kid was asleep next to him. Then he caught sight of Hinata on the swing with this guy trying to put his hands on her. That wouldn't do at all.

Naruto's grip on the Hyuuga tightening, the boys creaking under the strain. If he was hurt by the action he hid it well, his face an impassive mask. Naruto barely had enough time to dodge his open palmed strike, releasing his hand in the process.

"Who are you?" The older boy demanded, hardening his pearly gaze at the jinchuuriki. Naruto smirked at him, getting into his fighting stance.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm here to send you to hell." He explained simply.

Neji scoffed, "I won't waste my time on a failure like you. Come Hinata-san." He spat the honorific as if it left a bad taste in his mouth, grabbing for the girl's hand. She shrank back, nearly falling off the swing in fear. Naruto's eyes narrowed, couldn't he see how terrified she was at the thought of going back? Yet he stiil insisted on taking her, well he was out of luck. Naruto was going to protect her with his last breath.

"You don't have a choice." With that being said Naruto rushed forward, fist drawn back in a punch. Just as he swung another hand struck out, catching his hand in their palm. Naruto blinked in confusion.

"Bushy brow?" Lee narrowed his eyes at the other boy, refusing to release his hold on the younger boy.

"Naruto I told you we had to stick to the plan, why do you keep disregarding the plan?" Lee asked. He wasn't really angry with his friend, just upset that he was jepordizing their entire opperation for some playground quarrel. Literally. Naruto became angry, yanking his hand from the other's palm.

"You're just going to let him take Hinata? You know what going back there will do to her!" Naruto nearly yelled at the raven haired teen. Why couldn't Lee understand? He should want to protect Hinata as much as he did, what was wrong with him?!

"Of course not. Hinata's fine." Lee stated pointing towards the swings. Naruto peered around the older boy, taking in the sight before him. A wall of sand blocked Hinata from the older Hyuuga, Gaara standing its edge watching him with his teal gaze.

"I care about her too you know?" Lee said with a smile in his voice, earning a grin from the blond. Maybe Lee did understand. A little.

"What is this? I'm taking the heiress back to the clan now." Neji insisted, activating his Byakugan and looking for a weak spot in the sand.

"I don't think so." Naruto stated, moving from behind Lee.

"Hinata-chan's staying with us." Haku stated, hands twitching for the senbon at his side. No one messed with his friends.

"Whether you like it or not." Kankuro said, liftin Crow back onto his posistion on the puppet users back.

"You can't take all of us, shorty." Temari pointed out, holding her large fan hortsontally across her shoulders as she walked up to the group with a smirk.

"And we never give up or back down." Lee added, glaring at the Hyuuga.

"Leave." Gaara stated the word with such venom that it scared even a few of his friends. Neji shot a glare at all of them before taking a glance back at the sand wall. He scowled before walking off angrily, no other option available for him. He needed to speak with Hiashi-sama as soon as possible.

Gaara's sand wall immediantly fell from Hinata, shaping itself into a pleasent looking sand castle. That boy sure had a one track mind. Hinata looked up at her friends, her eyes slightly red around the edges. Naruto smiled sadly at the girl, taking a step forward to comfort her.

"Don't worry Hinata you're-" he was cut off by the violet haired girl tackling him into a huge, tears rolling down her face in waves. She gripped his shirt in a white knuckled grasp, buring her head in his chest.

"H-he w-w-was going t-t-to t-take me b-back." She stuttered, giving him indication on just how much this encounter had effected her. The jinchuuriki placed his chin on the top of her head, wrapping his arms around the frail girl.

"It's okay Hinata. They'll take you back as long as I'm here." He whispered, holding her tightly to his chest.

"Whoa, you guys sure are something else." The demon ninja looked over, spotting TenTen and the rest of the remaining leaf genin watching them.

"What? You guys want some too?!" Naruto demanded, holding up his fist in warning.

"Fighting is too troublesome." The pineapple haired kid yamned, looking as though he was having trouble staying awake.

Temari raised an eyebrow at the boy, "Who is this nube? Better yet, who are all of you nubes?"

"Who ya calling a nube?!" The blond haired girl and dog boy yelled at the same time, a white and brown puppy barking at their feet.

Kankuro smirked, "Obviously you nubes."

"You wanna fight?" The doy boy growled, taking a step forward. The pink haired girl punched him straight in the head, effectively subduing him.

"Kiba, don't be such an idoit! Sorry about him, he's a little too agressive." The girl said with a smile, causing the demon nin to wonder if she had split personality disorder.

"I'm Sakura, the blond is Ino, the lazy guy is Shikamaru, the boy with glasses is Shino, Choji is the guy eating chips, and the guy you just met is Neji." She intoduced, pointing to each genin in turn. Naruto glarde in the direction the Hyuuga had walked off in, he was going to get him during the Chuunin exams for sure. The dog barked at Sakura.

"Oh and this is Akamaru." The puppy wagged his tail in awcknowledgement. This was a strange group.

0-0-0

Lee sighed as he walked back to the park by himself, keeping his eyes peeled. After he and the rest of the demon shinobi agreed to meet up with the leaf genin some day before the Chuunin exams they all left the park to settle into their hotel for the night. This was when Lee noticed that his sword wasn't on his back, no wonder he felt so much lighter earlier. He must have taken it off at the park in preparation for his fight with Gaara and forgot to put it back in its sheath. Now here he was, rushing back to the park in search of his beloved sword. He took a turn, rounding the park with blinding speed. There his sword was! In the hands of the coolest man he'd ever seen in his short life.

He was dressed in green spandex, orange leg warners, and a green Chuunin vest. His dark hair was cut in a bowl cut and his eyebrows were almost as bushy as his, if not bushier. But the best part was the fact that he was holding his sword as if it were nothing, even Zabuza had trouble lifting the massive sword sometimes. Lee approached the man in awe, nearly forgetting the reason he came to the park in the first place.

"Is this youthful sword yours, young man?" The man asked him with a blinding smile. Lee hadn't even noticed that he had come this close to him in the first place. He shook himself before nodding.

"What a youthful amount of weight, and for one so young as well. Your flames of youth must blaze brightly!" The man laughed in a voice almost as loud as Lee's. The boy's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Youth?" He asked.

"You don't know about the power of youth?" The man asked, giving the boy a horror filled look. Lee shook his head.

"Then you have much to learn young man!"

A/N: Ha, Gai arrives and Lee is too stunned for words. Sorry about the delay guys this was supposed to be up yesterday but I had to go to bed early for school. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

-Watson


	7. Life in Konoha Part 3

A/N: I'M A FAILURE! A FAILURE I SAY! I can't believe I called Gaara the two tails instead of the one! WHY? Thanks for pointing that out ZyiareHellsing, much appreciated and if there are any further inaccuracies don't hesitate to call me out on it guys. Also I lied. This is another filler chapter and I'm sorry! But I wanted to explore some more things before I move on to the Chuunin exams but I will get there I promise. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I just got off the phone with some of the most knowledgable scientists and it has been scientifically proven that I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 7- Life in Konoha Part 3

Zabuza glared at the young boy still asleep in bed, his arms and legs sprawled out so they hung over the edges. He hefted his sword higher onto his shoulder, redistributing his weight more evenly across his body. The ex-mist nin grinned under his bandages, snapping his pointed teeth together in anticipation. 'Time for a wake up call kid," he thought evilly, focusing on his target as he lifting his sword over his head. In a split second he swung, a pleasent shiver running down his spine at the sharp scream that ensued.

Naruto looked up at the jounin with horrified, wide eyes before switching his shocked gaze to the sword sitting meancingly between his legs, right in front of his crotch. He gulped as the sword gleamed at him and the desemated mattress that lay in its wake.

"What the heck Zabuza-oji!" Naruto screeched, his cracking voice grating against the man's ears. Zabuza heaved his sword out from the mattress, taking a sort of sick satisfaction from the creaking noise that followed before he laid it against his shoulder with an indifferent gaze.

"Get up brat, you have a meeting." He stated at the boy nonchalantly before turning to walk out of the room.

"You nearly killed me!" The blond yelled shrilly, pointing at the man in accusation. Truthfully he was still groggy from just waking up so he was more than disoriented but was 99 percent sure he was nearly assasinated.

Zabuza smirked under his mask, "But I didn't. Now get up, you're meeting with the Hokage in ten minutes." Naruto blinked at the last part, what did the Hokage want with him?

0-0-0

Naruto yawned, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He ran a hand through his spiky hair, pulling his neck side to side to crack the bones there. He frowned, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he continued to walk to the Hokage's tower. It was nine AM. AM! He usually refused to get up before noon unless he was on the mission or training but due to the Chuunin exams starting in two days Zabuza and Itachi ordered them to take it easy, which meant he should still be in bed. Unfortunently that was not the case. Which brought a thought to his mind, what did the old man want from him? Zabuza failed to inform him of that during his murder attempt so he was left to wonder about on his walk. It was a little lonely actually, walking by himself through the village. He hadn't been alone in so long that he wasn't sure what to do with himself. He asked Lee to come with him but he denied as politely as he could, claiming he had some 'youthful' training that he needed to get to with some leaf ninja named Gai. When he asked Hinata she denied as well, claiming that she and Temari were going to spend some time with the female leaf genin they met the other day. Haku and Gaara were going back to the park while Kankuro needed to fix one of his puppets. He felt as though he was being left behind, as if his friends didn't need him anymore. He sighed, shaking the thought from his mind. He was a ninja, he could handle anything! Especially a walk down the street, what was he worrying about? His friends would never leave him. Right?

0-0-0

Sarutobi scribbled away at the paperwork on his desk that seemed endless but it needed to get done nonetheless. Just as he added the finished sheet to the large pile beside him with a satisfied smile the door burst open, knocking over his artfully stacked pile. He resisted the urge to pout in sadness. He was the Hokage. The Hokage didn't pout.

"Hello Naruto." He greeted without looking up from his hunched posistion as he collected his fallen papers.

"This better be important old man! I nearly died getting here!" The boy yelled, his angry eyes glaring at the man. The Sandaime raised an eyebrow at that statement. The boy shrugged.

"Zabuza-oji got his period or something." He stated, throwing his hands behind his head.

The old man chuckled, shuffling his papers before facing the young boy while folding his hands.

"I would be careful Naruto you never know who might be listening." The old man laughed.

The boy shrugged again, "I've said it enough to his face."

The Hokage nodded, his demeanor suddenly becoming serious.

"Naruto, you do know that I didn't ask you here to talk about Zabuza right?" The Third asked, resting his chin on his hands. The blond nodded.

"I figured."

"I just wanted to ask you about you Kage." The man said simply, trying to gauge the boy's reaction from his words. He could have asked any of the demon shinobi but he knew that Naruto was the best choice. He knew the teenager when he was just a boy and he felt that he had been relatively close with him before he...left. He felt that the other ninja would be reserved, guarded if he asked them such a question but Naruto would just take it as a casual question. Probably.

The boy looked up at the ceiling in comptemplation, not alerting the Hokage to his suspicsion. What was the old man playing at?

"The Chikakage? Hmm, he's alright I guess. Pretty strong, though he's nothing compared to me." The boy explained, looking away from the ceiling with a grin. The Sandaime nodded, thinking the boy's answer was just to feed his own ego.

"He treats the villagers well, and tries to take care of all of them, despite their past." He continued, sending a pointed look at the Hokage. That stung, knowing that comment was aimed at him. He tried to make sure that boy was treated as a hero, and not hated for what he did for this village, but it hadn't worked that way, and he regretted that everyday.

"Naruto I-" he was cut off by the door bursting open with an acompanying cry of, "Prepare to die old man!"

Naruto watched in mild surprise as a young boy, no older than eight or nine, ran towards the Hokage with a kunai held above his head. He, however, didn't get very far as the long blue scarf that trailed behind him snagged on a loose nail, choking the boy as he fell onto his face. The two stared at him for a moment.

"Hello Konohamaru." The Sandaime sighed at his grandson. When was he going to give up on this? The boy ignored his grandfather turning his angry, brown eyed gaze onto the only other person in the room.

"You tripped me!" The boy yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the blond.

"What the heck are you talking about?! You tripped over your own two feet!" The blond shouted back, anger surging forward at the boy's comment.

"Hmmp, yeah right. As if a great ninja like me could ever do something like that! You probably confusing me with you dummy!" The boy said arrogantly,turning up his nose at Naruto. The blond couldn't help his reaction, slamming his fist against the top of the boy's skull. Hard.

"Naruto!" The Sandaime called out, slightly surprised at the boy's actions. He should know better than to attack a civilian!

"Watch who you're talking to kid! I'm a real life shinobi!" Naruto yelled, ignoring the old man's outcry.

"Ow..." Konoaharu mumbled, small tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He sniffled, trying to hide his reaction from the others. It really hurt though.

"Hokage-sama I apologize for the intrusion but have you seen- Honorable grandson!" A new voice stated before cutting itself off, a man running towards the youngest boy.

"Back off you closet perv!" Konohamaru yelled at the older man with dark shades covering his eyes, suddenly forgetting the pain in his head.

"Honorable grandson you can't run off like that from training. You have enough potential to be Hokage but you must listen to me." The man continued, pushing up his glasses and ignoring the boy's 'perv' comment. Naruto looked from the boy back to the new arrival before speaking.

"No way." He deadpanned.

"Silence you disrepectful child! Do you know who you're talking to! This is the Hokage's honorable grandson!" The man yelled at him, his anger evident on his face.

"I don't care who he is, I'll put him in his place!" Naruto yelled, rolling up his coat's sleeve as if preparing for a fight about to come. Konohamaru looked at him slight awe. He didn't care?

"W-what?! Who are you anyway?!" The man demanded from the young boy who looked like he was having trouble keeping his attention from roaming.

"Naruto Uzumaki Oninomura's greatest demon shinobi!" The blond boasted, grinning at the man with his long incisors. The man glared at him, turning his nose up at the jinchuuriki.

"No wonder you're so disrepectful. Oninomura is the perfect village for the likes of you." He said, turning up his nose at the boy.

"What did you just say?" Naruto demanded, narrowimg his eyes at the man. He could insult Naruto, berat and beat him until he was just a puddle on the ground but nobody insulted his village or his friends. Before the man had a chance to answer he was cut off by the Hokage.

"Ebisu, you should know better than to speak to a visiting shinobi in such a way." The old man reprimanded, giving the younger man a small glare. He would not support intolerance within his ranks.

"B-but H-H-Hokage-s-sama he-he!" Ebisu sputtered, looking between the two frantically, his expression changing from shock at the Hokage to anger at Naruto.

"He is just a child, Ebisu." The Sandaime stated sagely with a slightly amused smile.

"No I'm not! I'm a man!" Naruto yelled, though his words had the opposite effect he wanted due to the slight pout on his lips.

"Yes, yes, Naruto we all know, you may go now." The Hokage stated with a wave of his hand as he dismissed the boy. He knew the gesture was a bit rude but he knew he wasn't going to get anymore information out of the blond and he didn't really have the patience for all of these conflicting personalities in his office. Plus he was getting more annoyed by the second.

"Don't patronize me old man-"

"Have you had breakfast Naruto? Ichiraku should be opening up around this time." Sarutobi stated coyly, looking at the young man with a devious glint in his eye. Naruto froze for a moment before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Hiruzen smirked, works everytime.

0-0-0

Naruto was an idiot. He never realized it before when all of his peers had jokingly nudged him and called him slow but now he understood. He was truly, and utterly, a complete idiot. How could he have been back in Konoha for a complete 24 hours and he hadn't even thought about heading back to the home of the world's best ramen. He was ashamed of himself. As he ran to the to the stand that was all the way across the village he wondered about the two people who were some of the first people to except him for who he was. He slowed for a moment, allowing the kunai hidden in his sleeve to fall into his palm before throwing it and imbeding it the wood of a section of fence he just passed. He watched for a moment as a piece of tarp fell away from the fence, revealing a wide eyed Konohamaru.

"What are doing kid?! I almost killed you! Why are you following me?!" Naruto demanded, slightly paniced. He nearly killed a defenseless child!

"What are doing throwing weapons around like that?!" The brown haired boy yelled back, moving away from the teenager. He was surprised though. How had the older boy been able to spot him behind his perfectly conceiled tarp?

"I thought you were some ninja trying to kill me!" Naruto explained in a loud voice. This kid was starting to get on his nerves.

"Whoa, so you really are a ninja?" The brunette asked, looking up at the blond with awe in his round, brown eyes. Naruto smirked at the boy's admiration, puffing out his chest with pride. 'At least someone understands how awesome I am.' He thought with a satisfied smirk.

'I wouldn't expect it to happen again.' Kurama stated. Naruto frowned, slamming his hand repeatedly against the seal on his stomach, rattling the nine tails in its prison.

"Quiet you." He said aloud, glaring at his own stomach as he continued his assalt on the Kyuubi. This strange behavior earned the jinchuuriki a bewildered look from Konohamaru. This guy was a freak, but from the boy's observation of his skills, he was also a worthy adversary. Konohamaru smirked to himself. Yes, he would do perfectly. He squared his stance, placing one hand on his small hip and using his free hand to point at the blond who was still hitting himself in the belly.

"Naruto Uzumaki of Oninomura I request to become your apprentice! You will be put in charge of training the future fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village!" Konohamaru proposed with a wide grin that rivaled Naruto's own. The blond looked at the younger boy before reaching towards him, flicking him in the forehead.

"I refuse." He deadpanned, continuing his journey to Ichiraku. Konohamaru was mortified at his words. No had denied him before. He didn't like it.

"W-wait! You can't refuse!" He called out, running after the demon genin.

"I just did, besides I don't have time to train you kid. I have the Chuunin exams in a few days and then after that I have to head back to my own village. Sorry." He explained, placing his hands behind his head as he refused to slow down for the boy to catch up.

"You can't just deny me like that! You have to give me the chance to prove myself." The boy continued, trailing after the older boy. He knew that if he just got a chance to show Naruto his skills he would take him on as his apprentice in no time.

This earned a pause from the jinchuuriki, looking to the sky in contemplation. Hmm, the boy had point. Where would he be if he had never been given a chance? Probably hanging onto his sanity by a mere strand. Maybe he should give him a chance. If only a small one. Naruto turned on his hell, facing the young boy with a grin.

"Alright kid, I'll give you a chance to be my apprentice-" he was cut off by Konohamaru's joyous cry of, "Yahoo!" But he continued as if nothing happened.

"But you will be put through a series of trying trails that will test all of yours skills and push you to your limit. Understand?" He asked the Hokage's grandson with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes sir!" Konohamaru yelled with a salute.

"Good! We'll start after breakfast!"

0-0-0

Lee had never been more excited in his life. He finally had someone to teach him, a mentor of his own. The closest thing he ever had to a mentor was Zabuza, who taught him the art of swordfighting and various other styles but he was really more of Haku's mentor than his own. He had someone who understood his crazy high standards, and insane training regimines. His friends, of course, were always supportive of his endeavors but they couldn't keep up with his seemingly unlimited energy. Even Naruto, who seemed to have an endless reserve of energy, wasn't able to keep up with the young taijutsu expert. Gaara was always a good choice for a sparring partner but he lacked Lee's enthusiasm for training since he didn't actually need it. He was naturally powerful. Which made Gai-sensi so different than his other friends. He could not only keep up with his ridiculous training schedule, he breezed through it like it was nothing. This surprised the demon genin even further, earning more of the young man's respect.

Lee dodged a kick from Gai, flipping backwards to avoid another of the man's fierce punches. Despite being attacked by a jounin Lee couldn't help but grin to himself. He hadn't been challenged like this since his first fight with Gaara and it was exhilarating. A solid punch connected to his ribs, causing a small flash of pain through his body as he quickly offered up a roundhouse kick in response, only to be caught at the ankle. He twisted his body, pulling his leg to deliver a kick to Gai's undefended side only to be caught again. He pulled his body backwards, yanking his limbs from Gai's grasp as he landed in a low crouch. His eyes widened as a kunai flew towards his head. He bent over backwards, the top of his head nearly touching the dirt of the training ground. He menatlly thanked Hinata for her flexibility training, which consisted of a lot of back bends such as this one. Though the training was rigorious the results were worth it. He straightened up from his back bend just as Gai's knee connected harshly with his chin. The demon genin flew backwards from the force, landing on the ground with a hard thump.

Rock Lee shook the stars from his vision as a large hand held itself in front of his face. He took it with gratitude and was met with a grinning Gai.

"Great spar Lee! Your flames of youth burn brighter than any I have ever encountered before!" The green clad jounin yelled, giving Lee a hard pat on the back that, if he were weaker, would have knocked him off his feet.

"Thank you Gai-sensei! I will tarin harder so that I amy live up to that youthful claim!" Lee aggred, saluting the older man.

Gai smiled warmly at the demon genin, "I think you will live up exceptionally well to it Lee. You truly are a great student and fast learner and it's my honor to work with you, if only for a short while." The loud man said. All of a sudden Gai sighed, looking into the horizan.

"Sometimes I wish my others pupils' flames of youth blazed as brightly as yours Lee." The man said with a slight frown.

"I'm sure they are all great ninja Gai-sensei."

"Oh they are. Very exceptional ninja and all geniuses in their own right but they believe that my methods are somewhat...unorthodox. They all train hard to build their skills but they have trouble working as a team and that worries me." Gai continued, his bushy brows burrowing in contemplation. Lee watched the man silently, wondering what was running through his mind at the moment.

"But let's not worry about that now, right Lee? We have some training to do!" Gai suddenly said, his normal chipper attitude returning as he gave Lee a wide grin and a thumbs up. Lee nodded enthusiastically, ready for any punishment that Gai could dish out. Gai looked past him for a moment, focusing on something behind the young taijutsu specialist.

"There's one of my students now! Neji, my youthful student! Come here and meet a very youthful young man!" Gai called out to a figure behind Lee.

Rock Lee froze at that name, turning around to have his fears realized. Neji Hyuuga glared at the raven haired boy, his white eyes locked on Lee's nearly black ones. Lee watched the boy stiffly, unable to remove his gaze from the Hyuuga's. So he was one of Gai's students? It made sense why they weren't able to work as a team then, he seemed to exude a feeling of isolation that Lee nearly choked on. The young taijutsu specialist narrowed his eyes, he still remembered wht he attempted to do Hinata at the park. Attempting to break the girl was something unforgivable in his book, the young girl was the closest thing Lee had to a sister and he would take down anyone who dared try and hurt her at any cost. Even if he was a Hyuuga. With a heavy heart Lee made his decision, turning to Gai who had begun to introduce the two genin.

"Excuse me Gai-sensei?" Lee asked, looking at the ground before him. Gai stopped his introduction for a moment to look at the boy expectantly.

"Yes Lee?"

"It is with my extreme displeasure to say this but I can no longer train with you." Lee stated, not looking up from the ground. Gai's face fell a little.

"Why not Lee?" The jounin asked, a slight frown forming on his face.

"I cannot say but know that I have appreciated every moment of your tutalge." The boy said, looking up at the man with a determined fire in his eyes. He couldn't tell Gai his real reason, that he couldn't train with an associate of his enemy. Gai watched the boy for a moment before breaking into a wide, gleaming grin.

"I'm sure you have chosen a very honorable descision Lee and I support you." Gai said, ruffling the boy's dark hair. Lee instantly perked up, grinning behind his high collar. He bowed lowly before the man.

"Thank you Gai-sensei!" He yelled, a sad feeling creeping into his chest. It would be a shame to lose a friend such as Gai but, for the moment, it couldn't be helped.

"Don't mention it. Now go spread your flames of youth to the world!" The man shouted, looking towards the horizan with tears in his eyes.

"Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee yelled back with a nod with hot tears threatening to fall from his own eyes. He quickly wiped them away before running from the training ground.

"Hey Lee! I was wondering where you were!" Naruto called, running over to the older boy while a boy with a long blue scarf trailed behind him. Suddenly Naruto's eyes widened, pointing at something behind Lee.

"Whoa bushy brow look at that guy! He could be your Dad, check out those eyebrows!" Naruto yelled, his jaw nearly touching the floor. The young taijutsu expert didn't have to turn around for him to know who the younger boy was talking about.

"Yes, that's Gai-sensei. He's a very youthful man." He explained sadly.

"Well I can see why you wanted to hang out with him. He looks tough, you know, once you get past the eyebrows and the bowl cut." Naruto praised, nodding his head in recognition.

"So we're heading down to Ichiraku for breakfast. You wanna come?" Naruto asked, looking away from the training ground to address him.

"We?" Lee asked in confusion.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, me and Konohamaru here. He wants to become my apprentice." He patted the young boy beside him on the head. Lee nodded in understanding.

"It's very nice to meet you Konohamaru." Lee greeted with a low bow.

"Let's hurry, I'm wasting precious ramen time!" With that Naruto ran, leaving his two friends behind.

"A-ah! Naruto you can't just leave us!"

0-0-0

Hinata smiled to herself as she sat outside of the dressing rooms, fiddling with the sleeves of her jacket contently. This was nice, spending time with girls her own age. In Oninomura she was the youngest kunoichi, with Temari as a close second, and most looked at her like a child instead of a serious ninja. Temari, of course, was one of her closest friends but she had her own team to attend to and she couldn't always be there for her. So the company of the leaf genin kunoichi was something she greatly appreciated.

"Hinata, you have to come and try this on. It would look so cute on you!" Ino called from the dressing room.

Hinata got up slowly, walking over to the sound of the other girls voice. The girls were awfully strange though, or maybe it was just that Hinata didn't really understand how they worked but she was pretty sure it was the former. Sakura and Ino were always competeing with each other, trying to come out on top no matter what. But Hinata saw that despite that the two girls cared about each other and probably had known each other for years. TenTen seemed be the most normal of the trio, though she did have a bit of a temper at times and was strict, kind of like how a mother was supposed to act. Hinata entered the dressing room quietly, looking around for the other girls.

"See Hinata, it's totally you!" Sakura stated with a grin, gesturing towards the outfit beside her. Hinata looked at it, her cheeks glowing red. There before her was a sweet orange sundress with red swirl designs along the hem. It was beautiful but-but she couldn't wear something like that!

"Um, excuse my rudeness but I can not wear that." Hinata declined politely, looking at the floor in shame. Ino and Sakura pouted.

"Why not?"

Hinata fidgeted under their gazes, playing with her sleeves nervously.

"I, uh-" Hinata was cut off by the arrival of Temari.

"She thinks it's too revealing." She said bluntly, plopping onto a nearby bench.

"Too revealing?" TenTen asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, the girl never wears anything that comes above her knees, or is too formfitting. You should've have seen her in Suna. I thought she was going to get heatstroke under all those baggy clothes." Hinata blushed further under her hood.

"Don't worry about it Hinata, it's just us girls here." TenTen tried to reassure her, placing a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

Hinata shook her head, "I'm sorry but I am not comfortable trying that on." The girls all shared a look, they definantly needed to boost this girl's confidence.

"Oh, well. Maybe next time huh? I'm tired of shopping anyway. How about ice cream?" Ino suggested, collecting all of her belongings from the dressing room. The girls all gave a chorus of yeses before collecting their things and leaving the store without buying anything. Hinata frowned underneath her hood, she couldn't help but feel as though she ended all of the other girls' fun.

"So what do you think Hinata?" This question shook her from her thoughts.

"About what?" She asked in a slight daze.

"About a sleepover at your place tonight. Temari said it would be good since you guys have room service and more space." Sakura explained.

The violet haired girl thought for a moment, "That'll be okay but what about the boys? Where will they stay?"

Temari scoffed, "They'll figure it out. Besides one night of fending for themselves isn't going to kill them."

Hinata nodded, she had never been to a sleepover before. Actually her whole life was like a never ending sleepover, when she was younger Lee and Naruto stayed in the same room as her so they spent many nights awake just talking to each other. But this was different. She wondered what would happen.

0-0-0

Sasuke was pissed. The leaders of this village were idiots. How could they let a mass murderer like his brother walk around free? Who cared about the legal ramifications, he deserved to die for what he did to the mighty Uchiha. The dark haired boy seethed as he walked up the stairs to his apartment that he shared with Kakashi. The jounin was a freak, especially for those little books he always carried around(which were off-limits to Sasuke until he was older) but he was all the young Uchiha had. Plus he knew some pretty cool tricks. Sasuke unlocked the door, walking into the apartment.

"Old man I'm ho..." He trailed off at the sight before him, surprise coursing through his veins. Itachi looked over at him from his spot at their kitchen table, a cup of tea set before him. Kakashi smiled a one eyed smile at the youngest Uchiha, sending him a two fingered wave.

"Yo." He greeted his ward, unable to read the situation it seemed.

"What are you doing in my house?!" Sasuke growled, drawing a kunai from his weapons bag.

"Sasuke-" Itachi bagan, only to be cut off by his younger brother.

"Shut up! You don't get to talk!" The boy yelled before lunging towards the only other Uchiha in existance. He was blocked, however, when Kakashi stood in front of Itachi like a shield, the jounin slapping the kunai out of his hands.

"Kakashi?" Sasuke questioned, looking up at the man with a mix of confusion and anger. What was he doing?

"Sasuke what have I told you about attacking without a plan or a complete understanding of the situation?" Kakashi asked the boy, looking at him with a stern eye. Sasuke glared at the man.

"What more information do I need other than that he murdered my family?" Sasuke hissed, glaring over Itachi.

"How about the fact that I invited him here?"

0-0-0

Naruto's mouth watered as he came close enough to Ichiraku's that he could smell the intense flavors he associated with the stand for years. He ran faster until he ducked under the curtain seperating the establishment from the street. He grinned, plopping down on a stool as he looked around. It was the same as the day he left.

"Hey old man! Remember me?" Naruto asked to the man behind the counter, grinning even wider.

The old man froze, slightly unbelieving. He hadn't heard that voice since...

"Naruto! Long time no see!" The old man laughed, grinning at his best customer, despite his being gone for years.

Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of his neck in embarressment.

"I know. Sorry about that, how have things being going here?" He asked, ignoring the soft growl of his stomach.

"Same as ever, but I'm more interested in what you've been up to. Who are your friends?" The old man asked, reaching for a bowl and wiping it down with his ever present white cloth. Naruto turned to see that Lee and Konohamaru had finally caught up with him, though Lee probably slowed his speed down so that Konohamaru wouldn't be left behind.

"Hey you guys finally made it! Old man, this is Rock Lee and Konohamaru. And this is..." Naruto trailed off, he still didn't know the old man's name.

"Teuchi." The old man supplied with a chuckle.

"So that's your name!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hey," Naruto began, looking around the small stand, "Old man where's-" he was cut off by a swift punch to the head, one that blurred his vision.

"Naruto!" "Boss!" Lee and Konohamaru yelled together, watching as the boy clutched his abused skull, with slight tears welling up in his eyes.

"What the..." He trailed off as anger surged in his chest, looking for the person who attacked him. A young woman around sixteen glared at him with slight tears in her eyes, her hand poised for another strike.

"That's for running off without telling us." She said menacingly, despite the slight shake of her hands. Naruto watched the girl for a moment, sadness creeping into his heart. He didn't think they would have been this effected by his disapperance, now he felt like a jerk.

He rubbed the back of his neck in shame, looking down at the counter top as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Sorry." He mumbled, unable to meet the older girl's gaze. Ayame's eyes softened as her lips curled into a slight smile.

"Just don't do it again okay? Now stand up and let me see you. You've gotten so big." She observed, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Naruto grinned, getting up to show his onee-chan how much he'd grown over the years.

"One day you might just be taller than me, little bro." She teased, ruflling his hair over the counter. Lee smiled at the little reunion, despite the slight pang in his own chest. He wished that he had someone who would worry about him if he suddenly disappeared like the three had done so many years ago. He was pulled from his thoughts by a slight touch on his elbow. He looked up, his eyes connecting with a pair of warm, chocolate brown ones.

"You took care of Naruto when he left didn't you?" The young woman asked with a breath-taking smile. Lee felt a blush rising to his cheeks, thankful for the highness of his collar.

"I wouldn't say that, miss, he took care of me just as much as took care of him." He said bashfully, breaking his gaze from hers. She continued to smile at the black haired boy.

"Nonetheless, thank you. For accepting Naruto for who he is. I know he has trouble making friends and I'm glad he found someone like you."

Lee smiled behind his collar, "Me too."

0-0-0

Naruto sighed as he and Lee walked into the lobby of their hotel. Man was he tired, all wanted was to lie in his bed and fall asleep. That is if Zabuza replaced his bed from the fiasco this morning. Thankfully their suite was on the first floor so they didn't have to walk very far to get there, blinking in confusion at the sight before them as they opened the door. The five girls looked over at them, all dressed in their pajamas.

"Hello boys." Ino called with a smirk in their direction, clutching her pillow to her chest. The two boys looked at each other in confusion.

"Hinata what's going on?" Naruto asked, scratching his head in contemplation. If he didn't know any better he'd say this was-

"A slumber party genius, and there are no boys allowed so get out." Temari ordered, shooting an evil smirk at the two.

"What? Where are we supposed to stay?" Naruto demanded, all he wanted was to sleep!

"Yeah, we don't know anyone in town." Lee agreed, he couldn't train effectively without his required amount of sleep.

"Haku, Gaara, and Kankuro said they were going to stay over at Kiba's house." Hinata said helpfully.

"That would be great if we knew where that was!" Naruto yelled in exasperation, causing the Hyuuga to flinch. He frowned at that, guilt flashing in his body.

"I'm sorry Hinata I-" she cut him off.

"It's alright Naruto." She said with a slight smile, easily forgiving the blond.

"Here you guys." Sakura said, quickly going through a series of familiar hand seals and another Sakura poofed into being.

"Take these guys to Kiba's house okay?" The clone nodded, moving past the boys and out the door.

"Wait, we haven't packed yet!"

0-0-0

After the Sakura clone led the two boys to the Inuzuka compound it disappeared in a puff of smoke. The two genin went up to the door, knocking on it lightly. Almost immeadiately after their knuckles connected with the door it was yanked open, revealing a middle aged woman who looked a lot like Kiba.

"Um, hello, , we're friends of Kiba's-" Lee was cut off by the woman holding up her hand for silence. She glared lightly at the two before speaking.

"I'm going to tell you what I told all the others, you break anything I will feed you to the dogs, got it?" The boys nodded in slight fear. She nodded, opening the door to allow them in.

"The others are in Kiba's room. Go straight, last door on the left." The boys nodded, quickly ducking past the scary dog woman towards Kiba's room. The boys quickly found the dog boy's room, throwing open the door and diving in like their lives depended on it. The others in the room raised their eyebrows at the two.

"You're mom is scary, Kiba." Naruto stated, feeling sorry for the leaf genin.

"You have no idea." Kiba said seriously.

0-0-0

"And they just slammed the door behind us!" Naruto finished explaining how they ended up at the Inuzuka's house, crossing his arms over his chest in anger.

"That sucks man." Kiba said with a sympathetic look.

"Yes, they wouldn't even let me stay." Haku stated sadly, hugging his pillow to his chest. The other boys gave him a 'WTF' face.

"Haku, you're a boy." They all pointed out. He buried his head deeper into his pillow.

"Yes but I like to believe I'm exempt from those sorts of rules." He mumbled. The others rolled their eyes in unison, it was actually quite interesting to watch. Kiba got a mischeivious grin on his face.

"How about we get 'em back?" He suggested with a devious gleam in his eye. Lee felt suspicious, what was he planning?

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"We should spy on them!"

The others weren't as enthusiastic.

"I don't know Kiba. That seems like an extreme invasion of privacy." Haku pointed out skeptically.

"So? Who knows what they could be doing over there? They could be talking about us behind our backs, or they could be going through your things." Kiba said, addressing the demon genin with the last sentence. Lee froze at that statement, what would they think if they found his stuffed turtle he kept with him since he was a child? He couldn't let that happen!

"I vote we go!" Lee yelled, suddenly jumping to his feet.

Naruto looked at his best friend quizzically until he thought about his ramen boxers thrown on his room's floor. What if they saw those?

"I agree with bushy brow!" He yelled as well, a slight brush across his cheeks.

"Finally!" Kiba cheered, thankful that some of them agreed with his plan.

"If this is normal behavior for boys our age, I would like to come as well." Haku added with a slight smile.

"Count me out, I like living and if Temari catches you guys you won't be." Kankuro stated, pulling off his head dress to reveal brown hair.

"I agree. Spying is much too troublesome." Shikamaru agreed, laying down with his eyes closed.

"It would be most unwise." Shino said behind his coat.

"It's too much work." Choji stated.

"You're all wusses!" Kiba yelled, glaring at the boys.

"Kiba! Keep it down!" Mrs. Inuzuka yelled at her son from somewhere in the compound. The boy shrunk in on himself.

"Sorry Mom."

"And we're the wusses." Kankura whispered to his brother, who nodded in agreement.

"What about you Gaara? We could use your skills for this adventure." Lee pleaded, looking at the jinchuuriki with wide, puppydog like eyes. Gaara stared at him blankly, unwilling to lose the staring contest. He couldn't handle the pitiful look Lee was sending him, breaking eye contact.

"Fine." He grunted, silently steaming over his loss.

"Heck yeah!" Naruto cheered, punching the air with both fists in a show of happiness.

"Alright agents get ready," Kiba started, an ominous look coming onto his face.

"Mission starts in five minutes."

0-0-0

The five boys stumbled their way through the bushes in front of the window of their suite, which coincidentally gave them a direct veiw of the girls in the living room. Thankfully the window was open slightly, allowing the girls' voices to drift through the slight opening. The boys hushed each other as they stopped directly in front of the window and by looking at their fumbling and loud whispering you would have never guessed they were ninja.

"Naruto stop pushing!" Kiba whispered, pushing at the blond's face to keep him out of his space.

"I can't see!" Naruto whispered back, struggling against the brunette's grasp. He needed to know if they found his underwear.

"You keep watch okay Gaara?" Lee asked the redhead in a low voice, waiting for his response.

"Whatever." He said, speaking at his normal volume. He was Gaara of the Desert. He didn't whisper. Lee took that as a yes, turning to get a good spot at the window.

"This is very exciting." Haku stated quietly, feeling an odd mixture of guilt and undeniable thrill. Was this how he was supposed to feel?

"Shhh! I can't hear!" Naruto hushed the young jounin, struggling to listen to the girls.

"There all done!" Ino grinned triumphantly, looking over her masterpiece with satisfaction.

"Oh, Hinata you look so cute like that!" Sakura gushed, playing with the Hyuuga's hair.

"Yeah, you should wear it like that more often." Temari agreed with a slight nod. Naruto frowned, trying to look around Ino, who was blocking Hinata from veiw. What was going on?

"Do you really think so?" Hinata asked quietly, with a slight blush across her face.

"For sure!" TenTen exclaimed, grinning at the younger girl.

"Alright now that that's done," Ino began, finally moving back to her spot and allowing Naruto a look at Hinata. He stared at her in awe, a slight blush breaking across his cheeks. For maybe the first time in years he saw her without her hood, allowing him a full veiw of her face. Her cheeks were slightly round and coated in their signature rosy hue as she held her hand up to her mouth in embarressment. Her skin was radiant with a pleasent glow that clashed against her dark hair, which was done up it two pigtails, which made her look...cute. Had she always been this pretty?

"We can get onto the fun part." Ino finished with a devious grin. Hinata's brow furrowed in confusion, looking at the other girl with a puzzled expression.

"Fun part?" She asked aloud, unsure of what the blond meant. The other girls all shared an evil look, this was going to be fun.

"Yeah, you know. Truth or dare!" Ino grinned evilly, her face becoming a mask of menace. Hinata leaned away from her fearfully, why did she feel this sleepover just took a turn for the worst.

"Okay, I'll go first. Forehead truth or dare?" Ino asked Sakura, turning towards the pink haired girl. The leaf kunoichi frowned at the nickname for a moment before answering.

"Hmm, truth." She decided.

"Okay, is it true that the last time we had a sleepover you laughed so hard you peed yourself?" Ino demanded, pointing an accusing finger at the leaf genin. It took all of Kiba's willpower not to laugh at the pink haired girl, he was so telling Shino when he got home.

"What the hell kind of question is that Ino-pig?!" Sakura nearly yelled, red color touching her cheeks.

"Answer the question Forehead, is it true or not?" Ino asked. Sakura looked away from the other girls before blurting out her answer.

"Okay yes! But to be fair the last time we had a sleepover I was like 7 alright!" She said over the laughs of the other girls. Naruto held in his giggles, this had turned out to be a good idea.

0-0-0

After a few more rounds of Truth or Dare the boys found out some strange things about the kuniochi. TenTen had a collection of over 50 stuffed animals that she collected over her childhood, Temari always kept a map in her backpocket in case she got lost, Ino strangest dream included Choji thinking she was a chip and eating her, and Hinata had a strnage cumpulsion to dance whenever she heard music. It was now time for the final question and it was directed at Hinata.

"So Hinata, truth or dare?" Ino asked, with a sly smile. Hinata thought for a moment before making a choice. Throughout the entire game Ino asked embarressing and personal questions, and all of her dares with lacking in ferocity so Hinata went with the safe choice.

"Dare."

"Good, I dare you to tell me the truth." Darn loopholes.

"Who do you have a crush on?" Everyone froze, including the boys outside in the dark. Naruto leaned forward, deperate to hear her answer. He didn't know why he cared so much but he felt like he needed to know. That if he didn't he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight with wonder. Hinata's face burned bright red, leaning her head down so that her bangs hid part of her face.

"I...I like-"

"What are you doing?" A new voice asked from directly behind the male ninja, causing all the boys jump except Naruto and Gaara. Naruto stared at the shocked girls with a look of absolute horror. He missed it! What had she said?

"Gaara you were supposed to warn us!" Lee hissed at the sand jinchuuriki.

Gaara looked at him blankly, "Lee, Zabuza's here."

Lee slapped his own forehead, "Yes, thank you Gaara."

Zabuza looked at the boys with a seemingly indifferent gaze, all the while grinning evilly under his mask. His hand reached for his sword, a menacing gleam entering his eyes.

"I'm going to teach you little peeping toms a lesson." He threatened, pulling his sword from behind him with deadly slowness. The boys looked at each other in fear(except Naruto who was sulking by the window), what had they gotten themselves into?

A/N:I have a confession guys. I am socially awkward, so I've never actually been to a sleepover with girls my own age(other than relatives) so I'm not entirly sure what goes on during a legitamate one so don't hate me okay? Man this chapter is loooooong! Anyway, sorry to the people who wanted to know what happened with Sasuke and Konohamaru but the chapter was getting too long so I decided to not put in there. Don't worry though, those will appear later as flashbacks. So this is the last chapter of filler and next chapter will be the start of the Chuunin exams! So exciting! Thanks for reveiws and favs and follows guys, keep it up.

-Watson


	8. The Chunin Exam:Begin!

A/N: Hey you guys, so it's finally time to start the Chuunin exams! Kind of exciting I know. I hope you guys don't mind if I put in some original jutsus in this fic. Of course since Naruto, Hinata, and Lee left Konoha they wouldn't have the same techniques and abilities as their canon couterparts and would be expected to have a different skill set then normal. I hope you guys don't mind. Also, I would actually like your help. I need some help coming up with some original jutsus and I'm sure all of you have some awesome ideas for jutsus you would like to see in effect so I welcome all ideas and I'll give credit to those whose ideas I use of course. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer-Yes, I totally own Naruto(note the sarcasm there?)

Chapter 8- The Chunin Exam: Begin!

TenTen was tense. Her back was stiff and her body language shouted nervous. She tried to hide as much as possible but she wasn't as good at hiding her emotions as her two genius teammates. Speaking of which, she turned and looked at her stoic teammates with a quizzical expression. The two silent geniuses had been more distant these last few days, matching faraway looks in their eyes. Sasuke was more touchy than usual, snapping at the weapons expert if she asked him a simple question. Neji simply igmored them all together, vetoing team training for more time honing his individual skills concerning the Hyuuga style even further. This was worrying to the kunoichi, individual skills were necessary for any shinobi but without teamwork that would fall apart at the hands of their enemies. She sighed, did they really have a chance to pass this exam?

The door to the classroom opened with a loud bang, earing the attention of the leaf genin and many of the other ninja present in the room.

The rookie 6 looked around the room with wide eyes, hearts pumping in their chest at rapid rates. All the other ninja glared at the new arrivals, with the except of TenTen who took their presence as a relief, at least there were some familiar faces here to suffer, I mean, take the test with her team. She got up from her spot, followed closely by her foul tempered teammates. It's not like they had anything better to do. The rookie kunoichi received the trio with a thrilled grin.

"Hey Sasuke-kun!" Sakura gretted with a slight blush on her cheeks. Ino was not so subtle, jumping onto the boy's back(much to his irratation) and latching her arms around his neck.

"Sasuke-kun! Long time no see!" The blond giggled, batting her blue eyes at the youngest Uchiha. Sakura's eye twitched.

"Get your hands off him porker!" She yelled, lifting her fist menacingly.

"Ha! Jealous much, forehead?" The blond laughed, smirking at the pink haired girl victoriously. Sasuke gave an irratated grunt before shaking the blond fangirl from his shoulders, allowing her to fall flat on her butt.

"Ow, Sasuke-kun...that hurt." She said, looking up at the Uchiha with hurt eyes. He averted his cold gaze.

"I have no patience with useless shinobi." He stated coldly, much to the surprise of the other genin. Ino winced at the comment, that hurt. She wasn't useless, was she? Sakura would have rubbed the blond's rejection in her face if not for the defeated look in her rivals eyes.

"Geez, that was harsh." Kiba whispered to Shino who gave a slight nod of agreement. There was a difference between honesty and cruelty, and the Uchiha crossed the line. TenTen narrowed her eyes at her teammate, behavior like this was unacceptable, especially against one of the same village. She would definatly have a talk with the raven haired boy at the soonest possible time. Sakura walked up to her rival, holding uot her hand to the blond with a reassuring smile.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You're not useless, you can't be if you're my rival." She said jokingly with a slight chuckle. The young girl looked up at other genin with a sad expression for a moment before smiling slightly and taking the other girl's hand.

"Yeah, you're not useless Ino! You're one of the best ninja I've seen!" Proclaimed Choji around a mouthful of barbeque flavored chips.

"That Uchiha just has major attitude problems." Shikamaru said, attempting to cheer up his fellow teammate. Calling Ino useless was an insult to his entire squad and normally he would have found it too troublesome to care but the way Sasuke looked down on his squad bothered the lazy genius.

Kiba looked around the room with a smirk, Akamaru wagging his tail from his spot on his master's head. These guys didn't look so tough, sure some of them had their fierce glares trained on the rookies but Kiba could tell they were all talk. Nothing he and his team couldn't handle. He had a strange urge to challenge them, right here and now but he restrained himself. He knew that his teammates wouldn't appreciate him blowing their cover in front of all of these enemy nin. But it was so tempting.

"Hey, you guys shouldn't draw so much attention to yourselves." The leaf genin all looked to the source. A white haired teenager smirked at them, his hands residing in pockets. He sported a leaf headband on his forehead, though the younger ones had never met him before.

"See those guys over there," the pointed towards the room of older ninja, "most of them have taken this test before and they don't appreciate rookies coming in like they own the place. You guys should try to keep a low profile." He warned. Kiba frowned at him for a moment before smirking.

"Hmmp, we can take these guys no problem. It's no trouble for us." He boasted, maybe a bit too loudly. He was rewarded with a firece headlock nearly knocked Akamaru from his spot on the dog boy's head.

"Kiba, shut up! Are you trying to get us all killed?!" Sakura demanded, tighting her hold on the Inuzuka. He gagged, glaring at the pink haired girl.

"You're not exactly being quiet you ugly witch." He growled, trying to mentally to have Akamaru defend him somehow but the puppy just watched the scene contently from his veiwing platorm.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"This is actually working against you guys." The white haired boy said with a nervous chuckle. TenTen smiled at him, holding out her hand in offering.

"Sorry about them, my name's TenTen by the way." She introduced herself, he seemed friendly enough so there was no need to be impolite. He watched her for a moment before returning the smile.

"Kabuto Yakushi." He said, reaching out for the younger girl's hand only to have another intercept with their own.

"Neji Hyuuga, nice to meet you Kabuto-san." Neji said coldly, tightening his grip on the older boy's hand as he gave it a firm shake. TenTen sent the prodigy a questioning glance, what was that about? Kabuto seemed confused by the boy's abrupt interuption but soon recovered with a smile.

"The feeling is mutual Neji-san." Kabuto greeted. The Hyuuga nodded, releasing the man's hand as quickly as he took it.

"You seem to have a lot of knowledge Kabuto-san, have you taken the exam before?" Neji asked the older boy. This question caught the attention of all the rookie genin, waiting for any insight the older genin had available. Kabuto chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck in embaressment.

"Yeah, you could say that. This is actually my seventh time taking the exam." He laughed. This confession shocked the leaf genin, was the test really that hard?

"Wow." Kiba said in slight wonder at the older boy.

"Well the exam is held twice a year and this is my fourth year." He explained.

"Whoa, you must have a lot of info on these exams then." Sakura said, looking slightly impressed at the older ninja.

"Lot of good it's done him he's never passed. I knew these tests were going to be troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled to himself.

"Well, I'm hoping I'll be able to do better this year, but maybe I can help you guys out with my ninja info cards." He said with a smirk, revealing a deck of cards in his palm that hadn't been there a moment before.

"Your what now?" Sakura asked, puzzled.

"Ninja info cards. I have over two hundred card in this deck, each of which has information that I have collected during my years in the exams so I guess they weren't completely wasted. I could show them to you." He hinted with a teasing smile.

"Do those cards have information on specific individuals?" Sasuke suddenly asked, truning to face the older genin. Sakura looked at her crush questioningly, what was with the sudden interest? Did he have someone particular in mind?

"Of course, just give me any characteristic about them and I'll check the cards."

"Naruto Uzumaki and Rock Lee." Sasuke stated, much to the other rookies surprise.

"And Hinata Hyuuga." Neji added, crossing his arms over his chest. Some of the genin shared a look, why did these prodigys want information on the demon genin.

"Aw, that's no fun. You know their names and everything." Kabuto placed his deck on his hand, quickly swiping his hand across the top and revealing three cards.

"Here they are. Let's start with Hinata." Neji leaned forward in anticipation. Kabuto placed his card face up on the ground, placing a single finger on its surface until it began to spin. There was a puff of smoke followed closely by a frown from Kabuto.

"What's wrong Kabuto?" Sakura asked, releasing Kiba from her hold to peek closer. Kabuto shook his head, looking at his card closer.

"I don't understand...Hinata's card is completely blank." He said stupified, picking up his card and flipping it over as if looking for its secrets. Neji narrowed his eyes at the older teen, maybe he wasn't as informed as he thought.

"Wait a second, let me check Rock Lee's card." He repeated the process, only to frown once another poof of smoke burst to life.

"His is blank too." He took the last card until it began to spin until it revealed it was blank as well. Kabuto's frowned deeply as the leaf genin began to grow sceptical.

"Maybe you're not as informed as you thought Kabuto-san." Neji said, spitting the honorific with a distasteful glare. Kabuto shook his head, pulling another card from his deck.

"This has never hapened to me before. Look this is how it's supposed to work." He placed his finger on the card, watching it spin until it released a puff of smoke, revealing Sasuke's image and stats.

"See, it has he teammates, jonin sensei, list of mission ranks and his ninja statistics. While these other cards only have the ninja photographs. This doesn't make any sense." Kabuto frowned, collecting his cards and looking at them closely.

"Hey guys." The leaf genin jumped in surprise, turning to the new voice.

Naruto grinned at the group, Lee and Hinata standing on either of his sides. His eyes flicked to the cards on the ground, his grin widening even further. He looked to Sasuke, earning a cold glare from the Uchiha.

"Nice stats Sasuke, too bad you couldn't get much on us but we demon shinobi like to keep our secrets close." The blond teased, holding up a finger to his mouth in a show of silence. Before the raven haired boy could say anything thing in response a booming voice spoke.

"Alright shut up you maggots! My name is Ibiki Morino and I will be your proctor for the firts half of the exams."

0-0-0

Naruto stared blankly at his test, a deep frown on his face. Well this was troubling, he couldn't understand a single question. He looked up from his test, watching as the eagle eyed ninja called the name of another genin who had cheated more than five times. This didn't make sense, why would there only be a 2 point deduction for cheating? Most proctors would have an automatic failure if you were caught cheating once, why would they give them so many chances? Unless, they weren't testing them on their knowledge but on their ability to collect information. Naruto smirked, truning back to his test. Very clever, now all he needed was a method.

'Hey Kurama?'

'What is it runt?' The Kyuubi asked, shaking himself awake in his prison.

'How good are you at math?'

0-0-0

Lee untied his his forehead protector from around his waist, allowing two matching gloves to fall from their place. They looked just like the ones Itachi and Haku wore except these were without the demon symbol, their reflective surface without a mark. He pulled them onto his bandaged hands, frowning with slight discomfort. He didn't like wearing so many layers over his hands at the same time but he could unwrap his hands without drawing attention to himself so for now he just had to endure it for now. He strapped his gloves on to his wrists before shifting in his seat, in the process unsheathing his sword a good foot. He moved his hands slightly, adjusting the angle of his left. 'Come on. Just a little more. Got it!' There it was, the reflection of the paper before him. Now all he needed to do was keep this angle and he would be golden. The person behind him shifted, knocking against his elbow in the process and causing him to lose his image. He turned and glared at the boy beside him, he would get him back in the next half of the exam.

0-0-0

Hinata's eyes shifted to the sentinals, thankful for her hood. She focused on the boy before her rapidly scribbling away at his test.

'Byakugan!' Her vision intensified as she focused on the spot on the boy's back until she began to look through him, his answer sheet now available to her. She began writing down the answers, being sure to look down every once in a while to not look suspicious. For a moment she allowed herself to wonder how the rest of her team was doing.

0-0-0

TenTen sighed after it was revealed that her team had passed, it was a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. Of course that crazy snake lady bursting threw the window didn't do anything for her already frayed nerves. Now she stood with her two teammates at their starting gate, which just so happened to be next to the demon genin. She watched as Naruto talked animatedly to Lee, who spoke back almost as excitedly as the blond, and Hinata who was taking nervous glances at the trio. Before TenTen could send the girl a reassuring smile to the shy girl she was pulled to the side by her elbow. She yanked herself away from her assailant, turning to glare at the boy.

Neji narrowed his white eyes back at the girl, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What do you think you're doing?" She raised an eyebrow at his question, unsure of his meaning.

"I don't know. Maybe you could explain it to me." She said, placing her hands on her hips. She didn't know what his problem was but she wasn't going to deal with it, especially before not before going into the Forest of Death.

"With that Kabuto guy, why would you be so careless?" He asked, ignoring the girl's challeging tone. TenTen blinked her eyes in surprise before smirking at the Hyuuga much to his surprise though he didn't show.

"Jealous Neji? Never thought I would see the day." She teased much to the brunette's chargin. He sharpened his glare at the girl, ignoring the heat gathering in his cheeks. This girl was going to be the death of him.

"Don't be foolish TenTen. I was speaking about you nearly allowing an enemy ninja to touch you without regards to his intentions. For all you know he could have been attempting to plant some sort of tracking device on you and you would have let him. If it weren't for me we could've been screwed, watch yourself next time." With that he walked away from the girl. She rolled her eyes at his back but she couldn't deny the fact that he was right, she needed to be more careful.

0-0-0

Hinata gripped the gate before her, staring into the Forest of Death with unblinking eyes. She was glad her team passed the first half of the exam but she never really had any doubt that they would, they were all exceptional ninja and this next half would only reinforce that but she couldn't help but wonder. What was lurking in these woods? What would they encounter in there? She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey don't worry Hinata, we'll show them the power of the demon shinobi." Naruto assured, giving her a grin. She nodded her head.

"I know Naruto, I'm not worried about us." She lowered her head, hiding her own feral grin underneath her hood.

"I'm worried for them."

Lee smirked behind his high collar, hands twitching for his sword. Oh this was going to be fun.

"Alright brats! On my signal the final exam will begin on my count!" Anko called out, crossing her arms over her chest. Finally!

"Ready? Set? Go!" The gates opened, releasing the genin into the forest.

A/N: What's going on with the demon genin? We may never know. Just kidding. So anyway not entirely proud of this chapter, in fact I think it sucks and the next chapter should be much better, you know hopefully. I know that Lee's way of cheating wasn't very original but it's all I could think of so sorry about that. Next chapter should be longer sorry about the shortness. Don't forget to review and such. See you next time.

-Watson


End file.
